Can the will of the majority go against democracy?

Yes, it can. Especially with cunning politicians eager to grab the power by piggybacking the majority’s disenchantment with democratic institutions supposed to be run by the same politicians. This is the mana of populists and the curse of the nation.

How do you explain this?

How it is possible, in a country where the politicians register year after year after year ridiculously low figures when it comes to trust, that the same people get elected as MPs? For the voter it’s like getting screwed each and every time.

According to the newest opinion poll in town (21.11) 52% of Romanians believe USL is more capable of solving the problems of the health system, as opposed to 15% for PP-DD and only 12% for PDL. How do you explain such a big difference?

Based on what facts shaped these people their opinions? The opinion poll ranks the health care system as the second most important concern (35%) after the lack of jobs (48%). So people should strive to get more information on the health care reform. But do they get any? Do they really know how the new law for health care reform will affect them or even if there is any meaningful change between Emil Boc’s law draft and the USL one? They certainly haven’t read Vlad Mixich’ investigations on the subject…

If you could explain me this, then I would be able to explain you back why it’s a good idea to invite Michael Moore prestissimo to Romania to make a sequel of his famous “Sicko”:

Sustainable progress and politics

In Romania people hardly discuss about the future. They worry, of course, about their lives, families and jobs, but this is mostly day-to-day chores, not grand designs. The most striking feature of this ‘people-not-talking-about-their-future’ symptom is a general ignorance (or apathy?!) versus what ‘progress’ means. Well, citizens may not be interested, but politicians don’t like to talk about progress, I mean real progress, either. Understandably, I say, because this type of discourse would not fit with their public image. In our society they are associated with destruction and decay rather than with betterment, improvement, positive creativity.

One good example would be in order: the only progress registered in the field of environmental sustainability in the last 20 years or so has been achieved merely as a side-effect to the de-industrialization process. And this process, they say, had its origins in a glaring lack of adaptation of the government, central and local alike, to the fundamentals of market economy. In other words, politicians, old and new, were so blatantly incompetent, that they were readily willing to abandon internal or external market shares, assets and workers altogether to the grabbing fingers of the then-called triumphant ‘American capitalism’. Incompetence and sleaze too, let’s not forget the new opportunities to get rich in the process!      

Well, under these conditions, which unfortunately still apply today, does it make any sense at all to talk about ‘progress’, even more so about ‘sustainable progress‘? My answer is that IT DOES MATTER a lot. If you look at what local politicians (of all colours) in the Alba county are preparing to do to accommodate the interests of a giant corporation you will understand what I mean. Thomas Meyer, a German political scientist, described the pervasive disenchantment of the post-communist electorates with the inability of their political class to steer society towards progress as “nachhaltige Enttäuschung“, an expression which could be translated as “sustainable disapointment”. Sustainability, as opposed to durability, has this meaning of ‘capacity to endure through renewal, maintenance, and sustenance’ (see Wikipedia). Bearing that in mind, ‘sustainable disapointment’ could be seen as an outright perversion. And the local referendum over Rosia Montana’s future is proving that in the best possible way. Definitely not ‘sustainable development’, but ‘sustainable disapointment‘!

Politicians and poverty – now that’s a beautiful combination

With general elections coming soon what are my options? Every normal citizen must be asking himself/herself the same question, right? I’m thinking: that guy Hirschman was an ingenious basterd, spotting how well societies can live with a certain amount of dysfunctional misbehaviour, provided that one can ‘voice’ his/her discontent.

Ingenious and sick, I tell you. ‘cose here we are in a situation, where the good and brave, all tired of ‘voicing’ their discontent without being noticed, have chosen to ‘exit’ the country, leaving the rest of us with the only two things which definitely cannot be exported or expelled or repelled: politicians and poverty. In Romania at least, these two kinds seem quite happy with each other, politically speaking…

Hopeless Nation

What could be seen as a more powerful symptom of a hopeless nation: parliamentary candidates praying and distributing church icons as giveaways or passengers (young, not elderly people) in the subway reading prayer books? And all this not because of the noticeable influence of the Orthodox Church, ubicuitous indeed, over politics and life in general in Romania, but because political parties behave more and more like political sects. Exactly like sects they are run by a patriarch and his priestly subordinates, whose authority is beyond and above any critique, and exactly like sects they impose on their followers a dogma impossible to question from inside without getting excommunicated or worse.

Now go out and spread the news about progress!

Later edit: here with quotes from politicians and more in-depth presentation!

Gunoiul national si istoria

Nu am mai scris de multa vreme pe blog, poate si dintr-un sentiment pregnant al zadarniciei. In fine, astazi am ceva care merita semnalat. Horatiu Pepine scrie pentru Deutsche Welle un articol direct, franc, asa cum trebuie scris un articol cu rol pedagogic, nu contestatar. Reactia la prima proiectie a filmului “Dupa dealuri” al lui Cristian Mungiu arata cat de inapoiat inca gandim si ne raportam la lumea care ne inconjoara.

Citind articolul lui Pepine [e in romana, cititi-l!] mi-am dat seama ca romanii isi asuma tot atat de putin prezentul in care traiesc cat si trecutul rau, incarcat de erori istorice. Nu interiorizam vina colectiva pentru situatia copiilor din orfelinate, a copiilor strazii, a comunitatilor de romi condamnate la mizerie perpetua tot asa cum nu reusim sa avem o discutie serioasa despre holocaustul romanesc sau despre monstruozitatile comunismului implementat de romani la ei acasa. Din contra, ii ascultam pe cei care acuza tot felul de conspiratii mondiale impotriva Romaniei si ii facem ministri pe cei care bagatelizeaza holocaustul in loc sa ne uitam in propria ograda, sub nasul nostru.

Banalizarea raului si acceptarea tacita, cum scrie Horatiu Pepine, sunt forme de complicitate extinse la nivelul intregii colectivitati. Un model elaborat de colectivism al vinovatiei, manat de umori primare, prejudecati si complexe de inferioritate, o “solidaritate gregara”. Dar gunoiul national nu se strange singur…   

O furtuna uriasa dinspre Europa

Daca USL nu va pune in aplicare decizia CCR, oricare va fi ea, o furtuna se va dezlantui asupra Romaniei dinspre Europa. Crin Antonescu nu are voie sa se joace cu declaratii de genul:

Vom respecta decizia Curţii, dar în planul legitimităţii este definitiv demis, nu mai poate fi niciodată preşedintele acestei ţări.

Iar ce face Ion Iliescu cu privire la declaratia ambasadorului SUA este pur si simplu o intoarcere la atitudinile conducerii de stat de acum 22 de ani in urma. USL are de ales in acest moment intre o infrangere mai mica si una mai mare, uriasa.