"Every cloud has a silver lining", goes the
popular refrain. In this sense, were many who thought that the crisis would
serve to lift the carpet of these all years of bubble, to get rid of extra
structures and to rationalize spending. But instead of propelling a new
paradigm of economic model, the crisis
has put forward the hardships of the Spanish political system. In a recent
article, The Wall Street Journal
referred to Spain as a country of mediocre politicians, conflicts of interest
and cronyism.
One cause of this painful perception lies in the
Spanish partitocracy. Political
parties have entrenched themselves in the (mis) governance of the public to the
point of becoming establishment. The fact that Spain is the country with more political
offices per capita in Europe is not justified by efficiency of public
administration, but by the need to cover the modus vivendi of the political class. Public subsidies, parties released, positions on
boards, chairing buddies savings, expenses, contracts friends...
All this string of serves
the status quo of the parties. A
few days ago it was reported that of the 245 consultants handpicked by
President Rajoy, 68 didn’t even graduate high school. What are they going to
advise, how to get out of the crisis?
Professor Alejandro Nieto argues that today's
political system consists of a network of personal relationships constitutes a revamped
feudal system. In
this context, the corporate interests of the political class prevail over the
collective and parties cover each other's nakedness. Now, above all raw blind
loyalty to the party leadership is valued. This explains how there are so many politicians who
have not seen any other workplace than are provided by the placement agency of
political parties. How
many politicians today have been entrepreneurs? How many have worked in private enterprise? This low
level personal qualification results in extreme inefficiency.
Politicians are unable to propose real solutions and
simply cut right and left hoping that the crisis abates as if it were a more or
less temporary passenger. Also,
the slow pace of the political class (there are many politicians who have spent
more than twenty years gaining public funds) is not conducive to the public
interest avails. Stamping
on the institutional carpet regularly makes many forget the dust storms of the
needy.
The rule of partitocracy has consolidated a political
elite that lives outside of the real problems of the citizens. The gap between
politicians and citizens is becoming deeper, but this aren’t too concerned
about our leaders: while
abstention does not involve loss of votes to lose control of the institutions,
the parties need not be alarmed and may continue their musical chairs
entertaining games of fratricidal. This situation (which can be applied to other areas:
economic, social, cultural ...) reveals a terrible risk:
progress of all kinds of
populism and radicalism.
For that reason, it’s urgent to take measures to
regenerate the Spanish democracy such as open lists, limitation of political charges,
guarantee the independence of senior state agencies, approve a large national
pact against corruption, encourage internal democracy political parties, the
direct election of mayors, the promotion of the revolving door, etc. In other
words: to prick the bubble of the current partitocracy.
