I'm going to deliver on a pledge I made when I first created this blog today, namely talking about politics. Yeah, yeah, boring subject I know, but the political landscape in my country has been undergoing a rather drastic change for a year or so and I think it's pertinent to write about it. I won't get into specifics, but people who are familiar with the subject will know what I'm talking about.
I'll start by saying that following a recent voting poll regarding a fresh edition of parliamentary elections in Romania, the final phase of the change I was talking about earlier has been put in motion. Frankly, this change has been coming for a while now, but I think it's interesting to investigate the main reason for its instigation. As some of you may know, Romania hasn't been doing particularly well for a couple of years now (since the aftermath of the 1989 Revolution for that matter). But since joining the EU in 2007, there have been reasons to be optimistic regarding the country's future. That of course did not prevent Romania from being plunged into an economical crisis, but there's no denying that funding from the EU helped Romania, including on the educational side of things.
Speaking of the economical crisis, the ones in power back then decided that it was high time Romania went through a reform and with that came unpopular decisions such as cutting salaries and pensions. Thus, the first seeds of hate among the people were planted. Television channels and mass-media outlets opposed to those in power had already been conducting campaigns to discredit them by then, but these very unpopular measures gave them the perfect opportunity to press forth aggressively with their campaign. People gobbled up those campaigns because the ones in power had 'stolen' their money. And thus, a 'culture' of hate was born. It has been cultivated and brewing since then and it has subsequently culminated in a drastic change of power towards the opposing parties (of which the main ones have conducted an alliance).
My question is this: is hate truly a valid reason for changing the political landscape of a country? I understand where it's coming from, but voting is about deciding the future course of a country not about spiting those you hate. I mean, if the guys who are coming into power would have a clearly defined plan for the future of the country I would understand the choice. But it's painfully clear they don't. Every time I've heard their interviews on TV, they've talked and complained about the current president (let's call him B.) even though his current (and last for that matter) mandate ends in two years' time (soon to be one year). Their efforts since gradually taking power about a year ago have almost exclusively been directed at suspending and eliminating him from the political landscape even though he's basically finished as a politician (what with his popularity being almost non-existent among the people). What's worse is that they've consistently been butting heads with the higher members of the EU, essentially endangering Romania's status within the union. And what's saddening is that people have bought into this 'culture of hate', not because of logical reasons (although I will concede there are people who make valid points in this sense) but because of spite. What it basically boils down to is this: 'B. stole my pension/salary, so I hate him and will vote against him any chance I get'.
Just to be clear, I'm not claiming B. and his guys were some sort of saviours. Not by a long shot. It's pretty clear that there are rotten apples in all of Romania's political parties. But there were reasons to be optimistic regarding the future of this country during their mandate. They consistently talked about the importance of the EU in Romania's future (and indeed, Romania became a member state during their mandate) and had the backing of some of the most influential members of the union (as evidenced by Angela Merkel's backing of B. during the latest suspension attempt). What's more, they constantly talked about enabling the justice system and stamping out corruption. More importantly, they backed up their words: one of the most notoriously corrupt bastards in Romania's recent history, namely Adrian Nastase (who also happens to be one of the country's fucking former prime-ministers) was locked behind bars during their mandate; and he wasn't the only one. Maybe that's not much to look at, but they certainly set a couple of wheels in motion or at least tried. And while denominators such as 'drunk sailor' for B. are true in a sense (even though they're obviously hyperbole), the country started moving in a different direction during his mandate. And I dare say a rather positive one. The main leaders of the opposition (let's call them V. and C.) may have made vague references to a better future for Romania, but they haven't actually done anything to support that. All they've been preoccupied with since gradually assuming power is discrediting a president who was: a. already unpopular and b. already finished politically by the time they truly came into power. It's mind-boggling when you consider the delicate situation Romania finds itself in at present. Oh, and the less said about V.'s doctorate fraud and the example it sets for the young impressible generation in Romania, the better (it's not like it's been confirmed by authorities or anything). What's even worse is that some people seem to have lost confidence in the voting/democratic system altogether, as evidenced by the approximately 42% of people who voted at these latest elections. These people seem to have simply given up and this lack of hope that is permeating throughout the country is quite disheartening. The truth is that there's always a choice in these situations, even when the choice is 'choosing the lesser evil'.
I'm not trying to generalise here. There are obviously people who have objective reasons for voting in favour of V. and C.'s party, but the existence of this 'culture of hate' and its influence on people cannot be denied. And quite frankly, it's a downright flimsy reason to have when the future of your country is at stake. Aspects such as whether the previous guys who were in power actually did good during their mandate (which is obviously subjective) are irrelevant in this context. So the question arises again: 'Is hate a truly valid reason for voting'?. Food for thought.
PS: I know that in my last post I talked about doing a Nolan Batman Trilogy marathon of posts and I WILL get to it...just as soon as I have some free time to re-watch each individual movie again. But I just couldn't ignore the political topic any longer.
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