Political aims. What are they, really?

PERHAPS I’m over-critical, but it has long appeared to me that many politicians are more interested the power that brings, than in anything else.

They show little thought for the well-being of the populace they claim to represent.

And in saying this I’m not pointing the finger particularly at the Socialist PSOE or conservative Popular Party (PP) in Spain, or at the Conservatives and Labour in Britain.

It’s the continuous parliamentary manoeuvring that goes on throughout the so-called democratic world that I find hard to take, resulting as it does, in bad, inefficient, governance.

I’m not an adherent of any of the major political parties, being more inclined towards liberating Britain from the EU, but on the TV news a PSOE spokesperson recently spent her unimpressive 10 minutes of fame telling the world that the PP budget being debated was designed primarily to give even more advantages to those already privileged.

Did she really believe Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy would go out of his way to bring in what were obviously going to be unpopular measures just so his friends could profit?

Of course she didn’t.

She was ‘knocking’ the government simply as a reaction against something her Party hierarchy feared might eventually prove successful – possibly condemning PSOE to the political wilderness.

The same sort of thing went on when PSOE were in government.

No budget was ever put before parliament without fierce argument from the opposition benches.

In my view, it mattered little to the PP leadership of the time if the planned spending was for the good of the nation, or if the proposed taxes were justified; there were opportunities to be exploited, to create dissatisfaction with the government.

Mind you, during the second term of PSOE the opposition had things handed to it on a plate.

The economy was in tatters and unemployment appeared to be out of control, all due, so the Socialists said, to the world financial crisis.

But you know, running a country is much like controlling a very large business.

It requires talented management which, during good times, puts money aside to absorb and cushion the worst effects of a down-turn in trade.

Unfortunately, this did not appear to be in the pre-world-financial-crisis thinking of PSOE, with the result that, when the bad times finally arrived, there was nothing in the bank.

Is it unreasonable to assume that this is why Rajoy is having to put forward such drastically unpopular measures?

As a politician he looks for popularity rather than notoriety, but in trying to correct 8 previous years of unconstrained spending, does he have an option other than that of putting in place the tough policies he is offering in this, his first budget? .

Here’s a thought. To save money, why doesn’t the government close all the area ‘trafico’ offices and put the whole shebang under one roof similar to the DVLA in Britain?

Well, possibly because in having their origins way back when private cars were few and far between, these offices have become almost traditional.

Anyway, just think of the local jobs – rather unproductive ones, admittedly – that would disappear if they were to close.

Can you imagine it?

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