The political nouveaux riches
It looks like we will just have to come to terms with the fact that Greece’s political system is suffering a serious crisis in terms of staffing. Veteran politicians are complaining about the state of affairs in Parliament, about how shallow and outdated dialogue on major issues has become. Those whose business it is to handle sensitive affairs of state are often flabbergasted by the things that come out of the mouths of experienced politicians. And, of course, there is only a handful of politicians who could survive in the competitive environment of the private sector. All of this can be explained. On the one hand, PASOK placed its chips on complete unknowns, who imposed absolute mediocrity and abolished any semblance of hierarchy in the state structure in order to carry out the raid that left nothing standing. There were just a few exceptions of people who took the effort to understand how things work. The smarter and more honest of them realized that now, somewhere in or around their 50s, the top posts are beyond their reach. The problem is that PASOK is in the hands of those who are over the hill and haven’t yet realized it. In New Democracy, on the other hand, the problem lies in a group of politicians, fresh from university, who learned to survive as the opposition in a coffee shop while being involved in other areas of business and who now, having risen to power, have simply decided to live it up. As a rule, all aspiring MPs and ministers should be shepherded into a big room with two flashing arrows – one saying «the party is here» and the other «politics is here.» The joyriders can take the door to the party and those who know that there are certain minimum demands of a politician can follow the other arrow. Parties/business and politics don’t mix and this is illustrated by the behavior of the prime minister. But, where things stand now, his example is not enough. What we need is zero tolerance to the behavior of the political nouveaux riches and new blood in a system that is rotting in its own impasses.
