From Socialist Bulgaria to America’s Promise: Northwood Professor Featured in Mackinac Center Series
Dr. Alex Tokarev shares his journey to freedom as part of “Chasing the American Dream,” a special America 250 video series by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Before Dr. Alexander Tokarev became an associate professor of economics and philosophy at Northwood University, he lived in a world where freedom was not assumed, opportunity was not guaranteed, and government was not a servant of the people.
He grew up in socialist Bulgaria, where criticism of the government could lead to punishment, Western rock music was banned, uniforms were required throughout childhood and military service, and even personal expression was tightly controlled.
Looking back on that experience now, Tokarev offers a striking assessment.
“I realized it was a prison cell,” he said.
Tokarev’s story is the focus of the first installment of “Chasing the American Dream,” a special video series by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in celebration of the 250th anniversary of freedom in the United States. The series features first-generation immigrants who came to America seeking freedom, opportunity and the chance to build a better life.
For Northwood University, Tokarev’s story is more than a personal reflection. It is a living example of why the ideas at the heart of America’s founding still matter — and why they must be taught, defended and lived.
Tokarev was born in Bulgaria in the late 1960s. After high school, he was drafted into the army, as all boys were required to serve two years. Shortly after he began his university studies in Sofia, Bulgaria’s dictator stepped down. The Berlin Wall had fallen the day before, but Tokarev said no one around him knew it at the time.
The moment marked the beginning of change, but not the immediate arrival of the freedom and prosperity Tokarev hoped to see. About a decade later, tired of waiting for reforms to transform Bulgaria, he visited family and friends in New York City. There, he read works by Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, two thinkers whose work helped shape his decision to study economics.
He earned a scholarship to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he entered a Ph.D. program. He and his wife came to the United States shortly after marrying, with their journey to America feeling, in his words, almost like a honeymoon.
The early years were financially difficult. After paying university fees and housing, Tokarev said his family lived on $2 per person per day. Yet compared to life under socialism, he described those years as good ones — made meaningful by friendship, faith and the freedom to shape his own future.
“I’ve been blessed,” he said in the Mackinac Center interview. “It’s the feeling of freedom. It’s the feeling of being in charge of your own life.”
That distinction — between material hardship and the deeper blessing of liberty — is central to Tokarev’s story.
Under socialism, he recalled, the government controlled not only political speech, but many parts of daily life. People could not openly criticize the dictator, government ministers or police. Young people could be punished for chanting at soccer games or expressing themselves at rock concerts. Western bands such as KISS and AC/DC were banned. Children wore prescribed uniforms, boys were not allowed to wear long hair, and restrictions reached into the ordinary decisions through which people express individuality.
For Tokarev, freedom was not an abstract principle. It was something he had lived without.
That experience gives particular weight to his reflections on the United States. In America, Tokarev said, he came to understand that the natural order is for people to be free — to exercise their rights, pursue what they value, and understand government officials not as rulers, but as public servants constrained by the Constitution.
“This country offers the best opportunity for people to try things, to fail multiple times … and to try, try again until they find what makes them happy,” he said.
That message aligns closely with Northwood’s foundational philosophy, The Northwood Idea, which affirms the dignity of the individual, the importance of free enterprise, and the moral responsibility that accompanies liberty. At Northwood, students are challenged not only to understand economics and markets, but to appreciate the institutions, habits and virtues that allow free people to flourish.
Tokarev’s story also comes at a meaningful moment. As America prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Northwood University is reflecting on the principles that gave birth to the nation: that rights do not come from government, that liberty requires limits on power, and that each person should be free to pursue purpose through hard work, perseverance, and personal responsibility.
The Mackinac Center’s “Chasing the American Dream” series captures these principles through the lived experiences of people who chose the United States because they believed it offered something different. In Tokarev’s case, that difference was not merely economic opportunity. It was the chance to live as a free person.
His journey from socialist Bulgaria to a classroom in Midland, Michigan, is a reminder that the American Dream is not a slogan. It is a promise — one that has drawn people from around the world and one that must be renewed by each generation.
For Northwood students, Tokarev brings that lesson into focus every day. He teaches not only from scholarship, but from memory. He knows what it means when government becomes master instead of servant. He knows what is lost when people are denied the freedom to speak, think, create, worship, work and build.
And he knows what it means to find a home in a country where freedom makes all of those things possible.
As America celebrates 250 years of independence, Tokarev’s story offers a timely reminder: liberty is precious because it is not guaranteed. It must be understood. It must be protected. And it must be passed on.