Listening to the audio recordings of Santos Cerdán, José Luis Ábalos, and Koldo García forces us to smell again the old, familiar odor (we quote Benet and Jornet) of political corruption. If at any point we had wanted to believe that we had reached the minimum level of maturity that means avoiding the tricks of the smart ones in power, if we had ever thought that we were at least beginning to leave behind the infantilizing phase of exercising power, listening again to the conversations of those who thieves of public money brings us back to reality. It is objectively unpleasant to have to live surrounded by a political class that cannot, or does not want to, rid itself of corruption understood as a systemic element (another legacy of Francoism that, in turn, the dictatorship inherited from traditions of power rooted at least since the Bourbon Restoration).
Pedro Sánchez's apology was not only insufficient, but the idea that two organization secretaries of the same party were up to their ears in mud without the general secretary or the party president knowing anything is an irritating pretension, which insults intelligence (now we quote The Godfather) of the citizenry. Even worse: bad if he was involved and, therefore, an accomplice, and almost worse if he knew nothing, because then it means he's not fulfilling his obligations, or isn't capable of fulfilling them. The audio recordings bring us back to where we always are: the gentlemen who believe themselves powerful and, therefore, unpunished, the delinquent language, the bravado, the veiled or explicit threats, the swinish excitement that grows as they name amounts of money. In the end, and as often happens, the fool of the group, the nightclub bouncer, was the one who had been recording everything for years. In case one day it might be of use to him. As citizens, it not only causes indignation: also shame and, above all, disappointment. The clay machine not only hasn't stopped, but is at maximum production. Once again, the truth of the poet William Blake's assertion is confirmed: he who can and does not act, creates pestilence.
Others subscribe to the words of the poet Aznar: whoever can do something, let them do it. The left-wing electorate is disgusted and demobilized by the scandals on the left; the right-wing electorate, on the other hand, seems to resist impassively an Ayuso, a Mazón, a Feijóo who is friends with a drug dealer, and whatever else is convenient. And it goes without saying how the wear and tear and discredit of politics fuel the anti-politics of the far right, whether called Vox or the Catalan Alliance. However, it is not clear that Sánchez's fall (now foreseeable, though it remains to be seen whether it will be more short- or long-term) will lead to anything other than a situation of stagnation and collapse, because the PP's votes may shift to Vox, but their combined total is still not enough to form a government. Not so long ago, Spain broke a record for a caretaker government: it lasted ten months until Mr. Rajoy was re-sworn in as president, thanks to the abstention of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party).
