But the reality is that they are forty years behind us. They want to build a better life for themselves and their children. I talked to one woman in Budapest last year who has been visiting Hungary every year since 1970. She said the last twenty years have been meaningless until recently. This is the way any East European feels.
Democracy means economic liberation.
Many East Europeans are willing, eager, and enthusiastic to join the West economically and, as I said before, it is in our national interest to assist them in doing so. Patrick Murphy, vice president of Execuserve International, a Washington, D.C. firm. discussed with the U.S. Center for Soviet-American Relations his impressions about the changes in East European economies after their recent transition to democratic rule.