We have heard a lot about the passion of politics and the passion of power. But, unfortunately, we also have our own personal, tragic experiences... So, it is worth our attention to this huge issue, especially nowadays since politics and politicians, with their leveling treatment of everyone and everything, make us forget that Politics is one thing and Power is another.
As our great teacher Papanoutsos used to say: "Only when tomorrow's Citizen has been politicized since childhood, i.e. has become an active Citizen, has accepted and rejected, has been excited and disappointed, has studied and lived, will he cease to be someone "number" of some era.".
We, today, add that only then will we become mature, integrated and active citizens, when we know how to distinguish the battle of ideas from the battle of positions. The MP who serves the correct program of his party, from the MP who supports the interests of his "donors". The party that stays true to its principles and the party that betrays its principles to get power.
But how will a major principled party implement its program if it does not take power? And how will he get power if he doesn't…sell his principles to the big interests that will…ensure his rise and stay in power?
Passion for Politics, as all our great teachers say, “…is a democratic passion. With the importance given to Politics by the ancient Greeks, i.e. "education", i.e. formation of social individuals. And participation in the battle of ideas meant participation in the development of democracy and autonomy...".
The passion, however, for power meant and means something completely different. "It is the passion of the one who gathers power, with the sole aim of making it his personal instrument, with an ally even the devil... As a result, most of the time, he and the power become... a personal instrument of... the devil...". This very passion, unfortunately, not only blinds a few great leaders in world history, but, at the same time, misleads many unsuspecting citizens as well. As a result, they hate, loathe and reject politics, believing it to be synonymous with ruthless power.
And this happens nowadays, to an, unfortunately, very large extent. It was predicted by Professor K. Sofoulis, in a prophetic letter, in the wild days of '89: "The battle between the world of ideas that wants the citizen to be an active agent in his life and history, and the world that is only interested in increasing his incomes, it is an unequal battle... Woe betide us if the latter prevails...".
Unfortunately, this hideous runner-up prevailed. And we are all jointly responsible…
The politicians, in the majority of them, who set the bad examples, victims of the passion of power and publicity. Some suspicious "centers", which systematically flatten Politics to guide the power. The "ideologues" who close in their shell. And the simple, gullible citizens, who, dazed by the blinding lights of the consumerist amorality of our time, lose the forest of ideas and those who hide it. And they see only the sick sapling of some wretched power. And they believe those who project it.
And they forget that all the great revolutionary changes, for centuries now, have always been done in the same way. With the eternal battle between the health of Politics and the germ of power. And woe to the times that equate them. As, unfortunately, our time... Zero visibility? But until when..
Perhaps, when even the simplest voter has realized that:
” The vote is stronger than the bullet. The bullet kills your enemy. Voting can kill your children's future..”
photo fanjanjua, Image license by freepik.com
