GUEST POST: This country has become a moral cess-pit
This was sent in by J. Vella as a comment, but I’m using it as a guest post.
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X`tahwid. This country has become a moral cesspit. No wonder so many people voted Labour in the last elections.
Lawrence Gonzi`s correctness, basic decency and his refusal to compromise his principles were an inconvenient, constant reminder of our own amorality. That`s why we did to him what Herodia did to St John.
I don`t think the Maltese electorate was ever deceived by all the talk of progressive liberalism, good governance, transparency, meritocracy and all that rubbish. It might have hoodwinked a few good souls at the American and other Western embassies, but not the switchers.
The non-verbal communication coming out of Mile End indicated a return to the Mintoffian “golden age”. Even the most obnoxious representatives of Mintoffian misrule, who had been sidelined by Alfred Sant, were welcomed back with open arms.
Developers realised that with the MLP in government it would be easier to bribe your way through MEPA and environmental considerations would go out of the window.
Hunters knew that in the new Mintoffian era they would practically do what they want.
Civil servants were convinced that under Labour they could be promoted beyond their capabilities. Unskilled persons who did not want to work understood that they would be placed on the public payroll by a Labour government.
Businessmen realised that the public tendering process would become a joke, and they could get away with ignoring rules and standards.
Criminals assumed that the Police Force would be manipulated to protect the regime and its hangers-on, rather than the general public.
In short, most people realised that the letter of the law would be used to break its spirit. After all we went through 16 years of Mintoffian hell, and most of us remember it vividly. But the switchers were happy with that and would not let any moral considerations stand in the way of personal advancement.
Just look at the most notorious switchers and you`ll get the picture. The new Labour government has gone out of its way not to disabuse them of the notions they picked up before the general election.
What they have not realised is that without the rule of law, democracy is doomed, and eventually the economy will collapse.
Unfortunately for this country, things will not change in the near future. The Labour core voters are too stupid, evil or brainwashed to change the way they vote (someone who voted for Mintoff or KMB and against EU membership is beyond hope of redemption, even if his name is Louis Grech). The switchers have got exactly what they bargained for.
And the decent intelligent voters are too few to make a difference, and in their great majority, they have been voting PN all along anyway.
The prime minister with the Police Minister, Manuel Mallia
The prime minister with the Police Minister’s current driver, Pawlu L-Machine Gun
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Today I lightly asked a couple of staunch Laburisti what they think of the situation and they began arguing between themselves (even though they were saying exactly the same thing) that come next election they won’t be voting: ghax kollha korrotti.
However I fear that they would vote Labour again as their memory is too short. Not to mention their low level intelligence.
Exactly – Labour thinks it can afford to insult its core voters since they will still vote Labour.
The Finance Minister is currently engaged in insulting those who receive welfare benefits. That’s one example.
I am all for cutting down on social benefits abuse, but not to have the money go on perks and salaries for the likes of Luciano Busuttil and other scum.
Any money saved from benefits should be spent on education, research, and projects with long-term benefits, not on money for Mrs Luciano Busuttil to spend on tacky outfits and membership at the Marsa Club.
Some good insights there, but maybe a bit too pessimistic.
I still believe that anyone getting himself elected on a populist ticket is invariably sitting on a ticking time bomb.
One problem with promising everything to everyone is that as soon as you keep one promise, you’re likely to have broken a promise to someone with an opposing interest.
Another problem is that people always make comparisons – even if you give them what they wanted, they’ll perceive that somebody else got a better deal than them and as a result become bitter and disgruntled.
It seems like the €23 million subsidy for the Autobuses de Lyon deal, which already is more than double that paid to Arriva was set to increase further.
Other bidders have asked for a €40 million subsidy but ADL wisely staggered this on a pro rata basis. Therefore if we assume similar economics and operations, the subsidy that will end up being paid for a full year of operations will probably be anywhere near (or above) the €40 million mark.
Whereas bus fares may not be set to increase for those using buses, this is a cheap gimmick. The increased costs of the operation will be financed from the very much abused “kaxxa ta’ Malta”.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, our taxes, including those of people like myself who have not used a bus once in close to 20 years, will be making good for the increased subsidy.
Mind you, I am not disputing the necessity of public transport, or the need to subsidise it. But our sodding government could have simply kept Arriva, and doubled the €10 million subsidy, under certain milestone (ha ha ha) conditions and we would all have been much better off then we are now.
At which point is everyone going to realise that we have been royally fucked. The Arriva deal, with all its glitches and its €10 million subsidy, was not a bad deal at all. Yet pique and crass incompetence (Muscat and Mizzi respectively) are going to end up costing us some €30 million more for a service that will not be any better than the one provided by Arriva.
This is a very faithful assessment of our political situation. I totally agree that it will take long to have things change.
Most people are too comfortable with this situation where all rules are twisted and broken to accommodate the ‘moviment tal-qerq u ingustizzja’.
L-aqwa li issa JPO, Musumeci u xi Engerer kuntenti bis-sitwazzjoni politika tal-pajjiz, ghax jaqbel lilhom personali.
This is an interesting and insightful comment, reflecting the unfortunate condition of the Maltese electorate.
It is exactly what I think when I hear Simon Busuttil criticise the government for putting thousands on the state payroll.
Every Labour voter and switcher is waiting for his own small iced bun. That’s why, when they lose hope of getting it, they hide behind the self-justifying platitude: ‘Ma fihomx x’taghzel; kollha korrotti.’
Watching the Prime Minister give his reply to the leader of the Opposition, I could not believe how similar his turn of phrase was to Mintoff’s deliveries.
He tries to win arguments using simplistic analogies which ridicule his interlocutor rather than substantiate his position with facts.
Mintoff could at least speak both Maltese and English coherently.
“The Labour core voters are too stupid, evil or brainwashed to change the way they vote”
I cannot know whether the above description is totally fair. I would rather attribute the way of voting in Malta to unique mindsets there, regardless of party colour.
In a liberal democratic country, independent-thinking voters can only correct their possibly floating vote within a framework of new elections according to the country’s constitution.
Hence, a cesspit may “democratically” last five years.
Allow me to re-phrase part of your comment:
In a ‘democratic’ country such as Malta, ‘independent-thinking’ voters can only correct their possibly floating vote within a framework of their expectations of getting their iced-bun.
This may sound pessimistic, as has been expressed elsewhere on this post’s comments, but I find Willie Mangion’s reason for voting Labour in the last election quite symptomatic.
He said he had spoken to Dr Gonzi about a job and he was offered one, but he considered it below his talents. As soon as Labour was voted in Prime Minister Muscat gave him the job of finding garages for musical bands!
Whether this is commensurate with his talents or not I can’t tell because I don’t know what his talents are. What we all know is that his ‘efforts’ returned zilch results.
And Willie was splashed on Labour’s billboards as your typical Maltese independent-thinking voter.
A very exposition of our current politician situation. |Very well written.
These are the cyclical phases of human society:
Barbarism
Renaissance
Civilisation
Degeneration
Then back to Barbarism
.
.
We are now in the late degenerative phase with a possible onset of barbarism already felt.
The cause of this degeneration and onset of barbarism is the throwing into the dustbin of our timeless established morals that had built the European civilisation in the first place.
This civilisation has conquered the world not by force but by conviction. Europe was built on Greco-Roman laws and mores enhanced by those simple, basic Christian teachings that say Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself, or in more simpler terms, be generous instead of an egoist.
European civilisation had conquered most of the world simply because its morals and political ethics, which were also very much conducive to the development of science and knowledge, were found to be good by nearly every country in this world of ours and which today these countries copy and adapt and use to there own benefit. The acceptance of our European civilisation by most of the rest can be measured by the fact that today most people around the world wear the same style of shirt, trousers, tie and jacket. Those who still don’t are beheading others that do.
In spite of all this millennial progress, in spite of all the wars against evil despots, in spite of all the writings and philosophies handed down to us by our founding fathers; in spite of all these, we have now become maddeningly hubristic, believing that our ‘modern’ society can do without all the past experiences, teachings and philosophies and have therefore invented our modern society, based on nothing except egoism. Today many believe that money comes out of a hole in the wall and if that doesn’t work then there’s the politician who will provide them with food stamps, dole money, free lodging, free medicine, free schooling, free travel and many other free services while taxing more and more the ever decreasing number the hard-working class group within our society.
This continuously decreasing group has to produce more money for the continuously increasing troughers. One day the camel’s back will break. That day would come when there would not be enough hard-working wealth creators to support the increasing number of troughers. As Alexander Fraser Tytler said some 200 years ago:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilisations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
Our society is just this.
Ought to be nailed comment of the year!
Top marks at Ground Level (mainstream fantasy) politics.
50% at Level One (critical) politics.
10% at Level Two (insightful) politics.
Tal-biki at Level Three (actual reality) politics.
Beforehand the few amoral felt uncomfortable in the presence of the majority who were morally sound.
Now the few have become the majority and their only way to feel comfortable is to take over everything and to make the morally sound feel excluded and uncomfortable.
Their only pleasure is in bringing them down to their level. What a degenerative country we live in.
This post has hit on the main points that led to the PN’s defeat. Well done.
As they say, hope dies last. I do believe that the PN were bleeding for quite some time. The EU and the Euro were possibly the main factors that at least contributed to the last electoral win by the PN.
The majority of voters are not diehard supporters of any party. The way forward is the younger generation. This is a vast sector of the electorate that want well-paid jobs, job mobility.
I am certain that come next general election, the non-hard core voter will stick his hand in his pocket. If he finds money then he will vote PL. If on the other hand he finds holes in his pockets he will vote PN.
I have always voted PN because it was the only party that had a vision. But we must admit that the PN was far from perfect and needs a complete overhaul and particularly a team of strategists that are on the ball and come up with policies that are youth-based too.
Earlier this year BOV employees were told to apply to the Commission of Injustices if they feel that an injustice in their respect was the case during the PN administration.
I understand that the majority who applied were given backdated promotions and salary arrears accordingly. I am sure that same will happen at Air Malta as well as other entities which have a government involvement.
The PN was always far from perfect, it is made up of imperfect human beings, but it was never broke, broke morally that is, and as the American saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
Thank you Watcher of lies. I enjoyed reading your comment. What a wealth of knowledge.
you are right