Return of the wonderer

To be truthful I didn't really go anywhere, I just hibernated in the real world over summer as is often my way. However I am now back online and ready to write ironic witticisms on the basis of what I observe around me.

Now is that quadrinal (is that a word?) affair that is the bane of most countries these days: the national election campaign. As a political scientist by profession perhaps I should be more supportive of the democratic process but I am often reminded of Winston Churchill's comment to Parliment when he described democracy as the worst form of government except all of those others that have gone before it!

Churchill's other famous remark about democracy is perhaps never quite so fitting than during an election campaign: that the best argument against democracy is to have a five minute conversation about politics with the average voter.
The crazy fever that is modern politics brings to the fore many of the manipulative streaks common to the human condition.

Take the Law and Justice party for example; they have based their campain on the percieved injustice suffured by Poland (read them) as a result of the Smolensk aircrash. Rather than dealing with any real issues affecting Polish people they divert attention.

That is not to say that Civic Platform are any better. Rather than explaining why they have failed to solve the pension problem left over from communism they focus attention on GDP growth and infrastructure projects. GDP is all very well but it often provides an inaccurate inducator of real standards of living for the majority of people. Take India or Brazil as cases in point: GDP growth has been phenominal in recent years, yet poverty persists.

On the one hand we have PIS who uses campaign strategies based on a reliance on their voters having a complete ignorance of the issues being discussed. Take their campaign message calling for the slashing of fuel tax for example (where exactly do they plan to get the money from to run the country?) while on the other hand PO are no better in some respects as they focus on non-controversial goals that they can plod on with and show that they 'are doing something'.

This in many ways is indicative of the state of Poland's political scene. A colleague of mine said to me a while back that she would not discuss politics with most people as they would become aggressive and dogmatic. Polish people have lost the ability to debate in many ways. By ability I obviously do not mean Linguistic but rather cultural. Divisions within society have been allowed to be monopolised by political forces to the extent that the normal definition of a pluralist democracy is in fact ironically misplaced as what choice lies in such diametrically opposed positions? There is no to and throw of political ideas; rather people are entrenched and fight a war of attrition.

Consternation and its casues: the 1997 Constitution?

Recently whenever I have switched on either the radio or TV various "experts" seem to be endlessly discussing the dates of the looming elections in Poland. Is it me or is this just an excuse to fill air-time with drivel?

The Warsaw Voice announced on 2nd March that The PM and President would consult the leaders of the main parties. The phrase: too many chefs spoil the broth, springs to mind. I know that the British system is inherently unfair and the Polish Constitution no doubt allows for a pluralist electoral system etc etc, but I for one am in favour of the Prime Ministrial prerogative that exists in the UK. None of this continuous debate: The PM says May 15th (for example) and the country prepares. Is it so difficult?

 Alas, a lot of the problem lies with the 1997 Polish Constitution which has this to say on the matter:

Elections to the Sejm and the Senate shall be ordered by the President of the Republic no later than 90 days before the expiry of the 4 year period beginning with the commencement of the Sejm's and Senate's term of office, and he shall order such elections to be held on a non-working day which shall be within the 30 day period before the expiry of the 4 year period beginning from the commencement of the Sejm's and Senate's term of office.

Such a strict guideline is bound to create unforeseen problems. A lot of the current debate has been centred around the falling of All Saints Day, which is traditionally a long weekend. People are afraid that many voters will simply not bother turning up to vote.

This is not the first time I have blogged on the matter of problems with the constitution (See Constitutional Crisis?). I am not sure what the prestigious leaders were doing between 1992 and 1997 when the current constitution took affect; but to be honest, my dog could probably have come up with a constitution with less chance of confusion and overlapping competencies.

I am of course not the only one who sees problems in the 1997 constitution as I wrote here. Although I am generally reluctant to side with any codified constitution as it tends to lend itself to dogmatism and entrenched beliefs in outdated ideas (see here), I can see the need in a post-revolution period to have a fresh start. Therefore the 1992 and 1997 constitutions were necessary for the rebirth of Poland; shame the constitution makers did not envision the possible points of clash within their "little baby".

Oh well, perhaps the next revolution will bring a brighter future :) .......

Only in America!!

One of the biggest indicators of why diaspora voting should be eliminated comes from our American cousins. Of the 27,000 people registered to vote in the US, 67% of them would choose PiS. As I recently mentioned on Beatroot’s blog, I do not vote in Britain as I feel that to influence the lives of others while not being there is a misuse of the vote. The American’s results I think show that I have a point as they are voting without having experienced the last two years of fear mongering.