During the process of establishing a car company, Kirkham had several experiences that shaped his political views about socialism and the merits of a free-market system unfettered by government. When Kirkham visited the Polish MiG factory for the first time in 1995, the lights were off and the machines silent — there was not enough money to pay the electric bill. Each morning, thousands of men came to work, dressed in rags, and did nothing all day. They simply stood by their machines until it was time to go home. Kirkham was so moved by the experience that he took a photo of the darkened factory, only to have a guard point a machine gun at him, forbidding him from taking more photos.
The Cold War and socialism had collapsed a few years earlier, but Poland was still trying to dig its way out of the past. "All the laws and legacies of socialism were still there," says Kirkham.
A couple of years later, he watched as 20,000 employees were ordered to leave the MiG factory — they were officially out of work. "I watched them get on their bikes and pedal home in the snow," says Kirkham. "This company that couldn't fail, failed. This factory was government run and government supported. The next few days, I had 100 men line up outside my door, begging for work."
If that didn't cement Kirkham's opinion of government intrusion during his early years in Poland, then an illness did. He contracted systemic strep infection, which left him with a temperature of 105 degrees. For the second time, he found himself at the mercy of government health care in a foreign country. After Kirkham was placed on a stretcher at the factory, Polish workers stuffed cash in his pockets so he could bribe doctors. He was forced to lie in a hospital hallway because no rooms were available. The nearest antibiotics were two hours away.
"Socialist hospitals are terrifying," says Kirkham. "They wont treat you unless you bribe them. In truth, though, they never asked me for a bribe — I was an American and employing a lot of people."
The New Testament Documents
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