53. The Stupidity of Political Games
Italy needs a government
that has the power,
strength and characteristics
of a tiger-
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake
that has the power,
strength and characteristics
of a tiger-
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acrylic on plywood- 50x70 cm |
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake
The President of Italy, our President, my President is a nice senior citizen, a father figure and I have a dear affection for him- as a President. And he knows that as a President, we, the subjects whom he represents should not in effect criticise, ridicule or cause his person any offence. I certainly do not intend to do any of those things in this blog even though a blog is not an official document like a newspaper but merely a vehicle for the free expression of the user’s thoughts and therefore cannot be held binding to the normal rules of publication. However, I would not use this freedom to cause wilful harm to individuals, but on the other hand, I will not leave unsaid a truth which is fundamental to understanding a situation simply because it might mean treading on someone’s toes.
Having cleared up that little point allow me to return to the President because he has held it just and proper not to dissolve parliament and have a general election adding that this was not a deleterious decision on his part. At any rate, he had appointed the Speaker of the Senate (the one whose name kept cropping up misspelt during the elections to that position- see entry 50) to form a new government with the mandate to reform the voting system.
Everyone agrees that the voting system is the worst of all systems since it comes up with no majority for anyone, or at least that’s what happened in the last election two years ago. Pardon, I must correct that- the last election was not two years ago but twenty months ago- it still takes another four months to reach the two years mark. Now, why the hell am I messing about with those four months, one may wonder. Indeed those four months are vital to the members of parliament of that government.
Actually, the two years were also referred to by the President in his speech when he mentioned that almost two years from the last election was too soon to consent him to do the grievous thing of dissolving parliament and declare a general election. And so it was that on the mentioning of the two years that a bell rang in my mind. But before that bell can be made to ring loud and clear, it is only fair to fill out a bit of the background.
The last thing I want to do is give people the impression that I am right wing or left wing- I’m like James Joyce, who wanted no fetters of any sort, be it race, religion or politics. Should one remind me of my days in politics it is best I clarify I had joined the Socialist Party to counterbalance the monopoly of the then right wing government. And I signed up only when Bettino Craxi had taken off the scythe and hammer from the badge. So when I fill out the disastrous background of the state of the country as it is now it is because for nearly two years those gentlemen in the government did nothing to reform the voting system, did nothing to stop almost doubling the costs of basic needs like bread, milk and pasta, did nothing to improve working conditions.... and so on and so on and so on. And if you leave them there another two years, decade or century, they will still do nothing because they don’t have a majority! The people in this government have done more harm than good by staying there. Now we find ourselves in a much worse position than when the last government was in power. We complained about them too, but at least life did not seem so bad, it was not stagnant. There was not that awful cloud of gloom that hangs over the country like a veil of discontent- as Ian Fisher from the New York Times noted last December (entry 37).
In all fairness, this last government in their twenty months did manage to do something- they stopped paying out the pensions on the day of retirement. The first rate will be paid from three to six months later. So those ladies, like myself, who will be sixty, and I will be so in May will see the first pension rate in October, and those five months I don’t draw my pension are lost, there are no back payments! But this particular detail ties in well with what the President said that nearly two years of government is too soon to call another election because that means that those gentlemen who are now hanging on to their parliamentary red leather seats will not get a €5,000 a month pension unless another four months elapse, because it takes a full two years, not twenty months in order to qualify for that five thousand euro a month pension! So, let’s prolong the agony, let them hang on to their chairs for another four months of total idleness and total waste of time and we fork out their pension payments with the high taxes on bread, milk and pasta.
I voted them because I thought they would rob the rich to pay the poor. How wrong could I have been? It was the other way round, they robbed the poor to pay the rich! Indeed they have robbed me of my a few hundred a month, five months pension in order to pay for their five thousand euro a month pension! And to think they have declared that they are going to cut the parliamentary costs in the next term- do you believe them?
Rage, that’s what I feel. Every moment that the powers that be insist on keeping this useless government on its feet is thrusting another wound in this already bleeding country.
Apart from the pensions, they don’t want to call an election because, even with this present voting system they are sure the Italians will respond with an overwhelming majority. By putting off the election they hope Italians are stupid enough to forget the harm, the blunders this legislation has caused- But some Italians are like elephants- they never forget.
Having cleared up that little point allow me to return to the President because he has held it just and proper not to dissolve parliament and have a general election adding that this was not a deleterious decision on his part. At any rate, he had appointed the Speaker of the Senate (the one whose name kept cropping up misspelt during the elections to that position- see entry 50) to form a new government with the mandate to reform the voting system.
Everyone agrees that the voting system is the worst of all systems since it comes up with no majority for anyone, or at least that’s what happened in the last election two years ago. Pardon, I must correct that- the last election was not two years ago but twenty months ago- it still takes another four months to reach the two years mark. Now, why the hell am I messing about with those four months, one may wonder. Indeed those four months are vital to the members of parliament of that government.
Actually, the two years were also referred to by the President in his speech when he mentioned that almost two years from the last election was too soon to consent him to do the grievous thing of dissolving parliament and declare a general election. And so it was that on the mentioning of the two years that a bell rang in my mind. But before that bell can be made to ring loud and clear, it is only fair to fill out a bit of the background.
The last thing I want to do is give people the impression that I am right wing or left wing- I’m like James Joyce, who wanted no fetters of any sort, be it race, religion or politics. Should one remind me of my days in politics it is best I clarify I had joined the Socialist Party to counterbalance the monopoly of the then right wing government. And I signed up only when Bettino Craxi had taken off the scythe and hammer from the badge. So when I fill out the disastrous background of the state of the country as it is now it is because for nearly two years those gentlemen in the government did nothing to reform the voting system, did nothing to stop almost doubling the costs of basic needs like bread, milk and pasta, did nothing to improve working conditions.... and so on and so on and so on. And if you leave them there another two years, decade or century, they will still do nothing because they don’t have a majority! The people in this government have done more harm than good by staying there. Now we find ourselves in a much worse position than when the last government was in power. We complained about them too, but at least life did not seem so bad, it was not stagnant. There was not that awful cloud of gloom that hangs over the country like a veil of discontent- as Ian Fisher from the New York Times noted last December (entry 37).
In all fairness, this last government in their twenty months did manage to do something- they stopped paying out the pensions on the day of retirement. The first rate will be paid from three to six months later. So those ladies, like myself, who will be sixty, and I will be so in May will see the first pension rate in October, and those five months I don’t draw my pension are lost, there are no back payments! But this particular detail ties in well with what the President said that nearly two years of government is too soon to call another election because that means that those gentlemen who are now hanging on to their parliamentary red leather seats will not get a €5,000 a month pension unless another four months elapse, because it takes a full two years, not twenty months in order to qualify for that five thousand euro a month pension! So, let’s prolong the agony, let them hang on to their chairs for another four months of total idleness and total waste of time and we fork out their pension payments with the high taxes on bread, milk and pasta.
I voted them because I thought they would rob the rich to pay the poor. How wrong could I have been? It was the other way round, they robbed the poor to pay the rich! Indeed they have robbed me of my a few hundred a month, five months pension in order to pay for their five thousand euro a month pension! And to think they have declared that they are going to cut the parliamentary costs in the next term- do you believe them?
 |
| acrylic on plywood 35x45 cm |
Apart from the pensions, they don’t want to call an election because, even with this present voting system they are sure the Italians will respond with an overwhelming majority. By putting off the election they hope Italians are stupid enough to forget the harm, the blunders this legislation has caused- But some Italians are like elephants- they never forget.
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