Another good comment – please read it and pass it on
This was sent in by Patrik, who is the citizen of another EU state but married to a Maltese woman and living and working here in Malta, where he has made his home and is raising a family:
I can’t yet vote, but the choice for me would have been simple. I have no qualms about saying I have many grudges with the Nationalists and how they have run the country. Their mistakes have been numerous and their performance not always up to par.
That said, all those mistakes have been for the little things in life. Things that, while affecting me personally at times, isn’t a great detriment to the nation as a whole.
On the questions that really matter their performance have been top notch – budget decisions, joining the European Union, negotiating bigger and better deals from the same Union, the nurturing of foreign investments, the assistance to start-up companies, the improvement in education. The list goes on and on.
“Voting for change” could perhaps improve some of the things that affect me directly. Perhaps the bus service would be better. Maybe Mepa would be less corrupt. Possibly a couple of corrupt politicians would finally get their just servings. Potentially even the courts and the justice system would be improved.
I doubt these things, but they could be true.
But in the end I have a four-year-old daughter and an eight-week-old son. Securing their future is everything to me. The Nationalists have proven, time after time, that they can make life better for them. As a father, my choice would be simple.
If only I could vote.
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Well said. This shows when a person speaks with his mind not with his heart.
Well done
Well said, Patrik – my thoughts exactly!
This is what I have been telling the switchers and floaters till I’m blue in the face.
But have now reached a point where I am so disgusted by their stupidity and so terrified when I think of what’s to come, that I’ll cross the road if I see them coming or won’t be responsible for my actions.
Here’s another thought that someone posted online:
” [..] citizenship is not something that happens only on election day. Someone who doesn’t vote when they have the opportunity is disrepecting the memories and the struggles of previous generations who worked so hard to secure that right for their country.”
Until a year or so ago I made the mistake of setting aside recent political history in the belief that we should look forward not backward if we want to build a better future for ourselves and our children.
To those who made the same mistake or who, for any reason, are unhappy with the current administration, here’s a reminder of what Labour was about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fHt6Jpl2Xk
To those too young to remember, the people who were ministers in the 1980s era of violence, thuggery and absence of the basic civil and human rights may be ministers in a few days time. Remember the adage, old habits die hard. We have no guarantees that we will not see a return to those dark days.
Germans never saw Hitler coming. They probably never imagined such atrocities were possible. Most probably they said “No, it could never happen to us. Herr Hitler is beyond that. He is promising us change. He’s a good man”
And, yet, we all know how that ended.
Today, it is impossible to find a single German who is not completely aware of Hitler’s legacy. Most Germans I know are very apologetic when they do address that aspect of their history with people hailing from Allied countries.
If you want a change in governance, vote for a change in the Nationalist cabinet and among those Nationalists who may come to represent you in parliament. That is what I am doing – that is how I am expressing my dissatisfaction with the present way of doing things. That is how I am saying ‘no’ to what appears, at face value, to be the corrupt element of the PN. I am only voting for new people.
Saturday’s vote is about telling the PN “we want you in government but we want you to change your ways’. Ultimately, our vote is about maintaining the economic momentum and conducting ‘business as usual’ given the extensive turmoil in the world today. It is about continuing our fight to be free to live in continued peace and to mature both socially and economically.
Saturday’s vote is about retaining normality for our children and giving them a stable future. It is about making sure that they have full and productive lives, successful careers and more than we ever had growing up. And here, I do not mean simply material wealth but career choice, tranquility and freedom.
Saturday’s vote has nothing to do with idealistic mumbo-jumbo of ‘being a part of history.’ All notorious dictators resort to the call “Oh, let’s be a part of history.” In reality, they simply want to have pages written about themselves in history books. They care less about the people. To the extent that they usually become THE history over the dead bodies of those who cheered them.
The very foundations of Marxist and leftist ideologies, including those embraced by Muscat, are ‘revolution through conflict within society’. As a result, these ideologies are militant, fundamentalist, cultist and violent.
The signs already appear today. No, strike that. The signs were always there. I stopped looking at them because I set aside the past.
I do not want to labour Daphne’s point on the sect dimension of the “modern” MLP. Just consider what Muscat said, ‘love my wife’.
Like others on this blog, I am struck how this utterance echoes Christ’s reference to his mother as the Universal Mother of all Christians. This man is not the Christ or the Saviour. Michelle isn’t a virgin and she damn well isn’t someone to love without earning it. If I were practicing, I’d find the reference blasphemous and disrespectful. As an atheist, I find the reference delusional and scary. As a husband, I find it remaining.
Please think critically before casting your vote.
Daphne,
Is your email dcg@proximuspr.com? I sent you a separate message with a request. Perhaps you didn’t receive it or it got caught in your spam folder. May I send it again?
[Daphne – Yes, please do. That’s my email address.]
Just resent the email. Thanks
For avoidance of doubt, by ‘Michelle isn’t a virgin’ I mean it in that she is not the “Virgin Mother” in the religious sense.
Well done. Even though you cannot vote, your comments can inspire the late voters to vote PN.
In time you will be able to vote but for the time being, keep up the positive vibe.
I still think that PN have a small chance of making it. Quoting a great man, “is-Sewwa jirbah zgur” (Good will always prevail).
http://www.epp.eu/pressnew.asp?artid=2010
Don’t worry, Patrick, I can vote and will vote Nationalist next Saturday because like you I see the larger picture.
I’m sure there are many ‘disgruntled’ Nationalists who will see sense and do the same.
Truth be told we’ve seen a few gaffs and I would have preferred some things done differently however I cannot judge as I’m not the guy in Castille!
It’s a miracle how Dr. Gonzi managed these five years with such splendid results, notwithstanding the pack of jackals around him.
Don’t forget we are the strong silent majority.
Sensible comment.
Lest you forgot, PN did get us into the EU, however one year on,the people were already sending the government messages that they were not happy with their attitude. One message was MEP election results in 2009. A glorious victory to PL elected 4 MEPs out of six. Another message was the local council elections where the PN did not fare better. So the problem has started far way back, the Prime Minister should have listened to the people, but arrogance reigns so hopefully next Saturday the people yet again will send their final message.
Beautiful comment, I agree with the correspondent 10000000%
The country is moving forward. If Muscat implements his ‘new direction’ on the country, we can only move backwards …jew ghal gol-hajt.
Is he saying that with the PL in government “Potentially even the courts and the justice system would be improved.” I think he is greatly misinformed – doesn’t he know that when the MLP was in government, they suspended the constitutional court? How much worse than that can it get?
@KILI not ghal gol-hajt but gass down ghal gol-hajt. There is a difference between the two phrases, don’t you think?
Have you seen this one yet? What a bunch of ungrateful, brainwashed dimwits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lR8BQ68TM14