[People] say that the Greek state has always been very weak, inefficient, the Greek politicians are incapable, and so on. That is nonsense. The Greek state has been a very capable state and it has been able to deliver all kinds of things. You know, it’s a middle-income country. Its political system
has been uniquely stable in Europe. Two parties have alternated in power and nothing has been changing for three to four decades. Now that’s finished. That’s come to an end. These two parties are completely discredited. The center is hollowed out. And what has happened is that parties on the left and parties on the extreme right have been strengthened. (see link)This statement reminds me of a quote by Sam Shepard,
Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy, is it? It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.
Greece has been going through economical struggles for over six years now. The two political parties have come in and out of office without making significant changes because their approaches have been too similar or too modest. This is resulting in people swaying their support either way left or right. When explaining the issue at hand, Lapavitsas says: “They [the people of Greece] do not look to the center for solutions, they look at both ends of the political spectrum.” If support is lost in the middle, one party will come into power with extreme ideas that will most likely be in conflict and upset those who do not favor the party.
ReplyDeleteGreece is in a vulnerable political place right now. Lapavitsas compares this time to when Hitler came to power during Germany’s weak economy. When a “middle spectrum” government is not meeting economic needs than democracy beginnings to diminish as people seek change through political extremes.