As it seems, the Ábalos/Cerdán/Koldo case is on its way to having more episodes than Nizaga of powerEvery day, more evidence emerges, or statements are made in court, in which, incidentally, the suspects don't even recognize their voices, as is well known. Rail or road infrastructure projects were awarded to three large companies that were regularly the beneficiaries.
I speak of frustration because, in my opinion, just as relevant, if not more so, than the thief is the further spread of a kind of ethical fatalism, an irremediable feeling that there is not a single inch of purity. This has been highlighted for some time by surveys, which surprisingly identify politicians as the most undervalued group and politics as one of the main social problems, ahead of citizen security or unemployment. In homes, on the streets, and in the media and online, references to politics abound in pejorative or suspicious tones, as something inexorably linked to the plundering of public resources, deception, favoritism, or widespread manipulation. These are difficult times for politics. Not so many years ago, politics generated an almost reverential respect after so many decades of autocratic regimes.
Given this, we must recognize that some of us lack the courage to defend politics as the only tool ordinary people have to transform society. It's hard to mount a staunch defense, or to keep repeating like a mantra that we are experiencing, immersed in a process of "democratic impoverishment." A euphemism surely said with a certain amount of shame, and which also embarrasses the ears of people who have formed the opinion that we live immersed in a veritable quagmire, is the art of serving one's own interests, of flattering the powerful, of extorting those who are not so powerful.
But an effort is needed in this regard. Certainly, some politicians have demonstrated a terrifying loss of values and ideals, if they ever had any. But what is devastating to the public's spirits and provoking political disaffection and the rise of populist and far-right options is the widespread, unfair stigmatization. I am aware that the ground is fertile for mistrust. Unlike the 1980s ("the years of corruption") or the "happy 1990s," the era of irrational exuberance, the real estate bubble, and the greed of various bankers that cost us astronomical sums, the problem now is that, despite the growth in terms of... And this acts as a catalyst for social unrest, sublimating collective anger and bringing to the surface ideologies that were once easy to challenge and now garner widespread support.
But I insist: we can't throw in the towel. The main lesson we can draw from observing reality is that there are at least three causes that always contribute to corruption and its spread: first, the loss of ethics, and particularly that of public service; second, that there is still too much money involved today, even though controls have been tightened to the point of extreme intensity; and third, that the cost of politics has become excessive, onerous, as demonstrated by the sheer propaganda binge that election campaigns or mass weekend events to appear on National Television have become. And of course, as ethics weaken, temptations increase. The opportunities for bribery and extortion are almost endless.
I do not mean to say that corruption can be eliminated completely. It already appears in the Code of Hammurabi or in the Hell of the Divine ComedyI would say that the imperfection of public morality is inherent to the human condition itself. They favor SMEs... Anyway. At least we celebrate the fact that all this filth is coming to light.
