At 250, here's what the U.S. can learn from Lithuania, a younger democracy aided by Chicagoans
<p>VILNIUS, Lithuania — The cafes and bars in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital, bustle with fashionably dressed 20-somethings listening to music, sipping mango matchas and drinking local craft beer — what you'd expect in one of the most vibrant economies in Europe and a place recently pegged as having "the world’s happiest young people."</p><p>Thirty-six years after becoming the first Soviet republic to declare independence and more than two decades after joining the European Union, Lithuania is home to six tech unicorns, startups valued at more than $1 billion. </p><p>It's also a place where as prosperity has risen, voter participation has dropped.</p><p>But over the past 10 months, Lithuania has shown it hasn't lost its pro-democracy roots.
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<p>VILNIUS, Lithuania — The cafes and bars in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital, bustle with fashionably dressed 20-somethings listening to music, sipping mango matchas and drinking local craft beer — what you'd expect in one of the most vibrant economies in Europe and a place recently pegged as having "the world’s happiest young people."</p><p>Thirty-six years after becoming the first Soviet republic to declare independence and more than two decades after joining the European Union, Lithuania is home to six tech unicorns, startups valued at more than $1 billion. </p><p>It's also a place where as prosperity has risen, voter participation has dropped.</p><p>But over the past 10 months, Lithuania has shown it hasn't lost its pro-democracy roots. Thousands of Lithuanians have taken to the streets, most recently in April, to stand up for democracy and freedom of expression, after a right-wing populist party in the government's ruling coalition tried to control the country's Ministry of Culture and threatened the independence of its public broadcaster Lithuanian Radio and Television.</p><p>Povilas Ušinskis, 18, traveled two and a half hours to march under drizzly skies in Cathedral Square in April. He was marching in support of LRT's editorial independence, during a protest with an estimated 25,000 people.</p><p>"It’s every citizen's right, and in a way, a responsibility," Ušinskis says.</p><p>Protester Milda Valančiauskienė, 53, worries about the rise of authoritarianism around the world.</p><p>"We Lithuanians, we feel when it's dangerous," she says.
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- <p>VILNIUS, Lithuania — The cafes and bars in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital, bustle with fashionably dressed 20-somethings listening to music, sipping mango matchas and drinking local craft beer — what you'd expect in one of the most vibrant economies in Europe and a place recently pegged as having "the world’s happiest young people."</p><p>Thirty-six years after becoming the first Soviet republic to declare independence and more than two decades after joining the European Union, Lithuania is home to six tech unicorns, startups valued at more than $1 billion. </p><p>It's also a place where as prosperity has risen, voter participation has dropped.</p><p>But over the past 10 months, Lithuania has shown it hasn't lost its pro-democracy roots.
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At 250, here's what the U.S. can learn from Lithuania, a younger democracy aided by Chicagoans
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