epa04989908 Portuguese president Anibal Cavaco Silva addresses the nation, when he is expected to name caretaker prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho to form a new government, at Belem Palace, in Lisbon, Portugal, 22 October 2015. Passos Coelho’s center-right coalition won the most votes in an Oct. 4 general election but fell short of a majority in parliament. The opposition Socialists have pushed for an alternative government together with two far left parties. But, the president is likely to follow Portuguese political tradition and name the candidate whose party won the most votes to form a government. EPA/MANUEL DE ALMEIDA
COMMENT: Hi Marty,
I’m another Englishman who is an avid reader of your blog and am very much looking forward to your ECM conference material later this year. As a European pouring thorough the continental news we are definitely seeing a reinforcing cycle of breakdown in government over the past few weeks and months. It seems everything from the migrant crisis to independence movements to the Polish elections to the British E.U referendum, people are slowly turning on the failed E.U project. It has peaked.
The latest which I wanted to share with you and your readers is the deteriorating situation in Portugal, their president has refused to appoint a coalition government even though it secured an absolute majority in the Portuguese parliament, all because it is anti-EU.
It seems they aren’t even disguising their disdain for the people’s wishes now, we know that historically the E.U has bulldozed democracy by the back door but now it seems to be getting more extreme and overt. We are surely not too long from people on the streets, PEGIDA being just the first example.
Kind Regards,
JF
Prison where Socrates, the first martyr of philosophy, died.
REPLY: Indeed, Portugal has crossed the Rubicon. Europe is heading into the abyss all because politicians are incapable of ever admitting a mistake, which prevents any hope of reform. This cannot end nicely for they are stupid fools.
This is why as part of the Solution, the only way forward is a direct democracy where representatives replace politicians and career politicians cannot exist. There would have to be some safeguards, for it was in a democracy where the majority of a 600-man jury sentenced Socrates to death for corrupting the minds of the youth. That verdict proved Socrates wrong for he believed that the people in charge of government (democracy) would always seek justice.
Plato recorded not merely Socrates’ words upon being sentenced to death, but he also recorded a prior debate he had about justice with Thrasymachus who saw government from a far more realistic position. This serves as a warning that whatever form of government we attempt to create, it will always try to preserve its own self-interest. This is why career politicians must be banned. But how to temper and restrain the replacement. Ah, that is the question.
