"Many people in Lithuania constantly curse practically
all the authorities and live in a closed circle of passive observers:
successive disappointment, waiting, hope and all over again. The Lithuanian
voter has a myth hammered into his head that "your vote is important, and
if you don't come, they will elect others". What are the ones and the
others? And most importantly, can elections make a difference?
Let's take a look at what voters voted for and what they
got. The program of the ruling TS-LKD begins with the resounding words:
"We, the Union of the Fatherland - Lithuanian Christian Democrats, base
our principles of political activity on a Christian worldview, we draw
inspiration from the political philosophy of conservatism..." The
supporting pillars of this worldview: low taxes, less state, freedom of speach and
individual freedom.
If the voters cared about their own fate more than the
affairs of the Vilnius Christmas tree, then it would be clear to many that the
country is being pushed to where the older generation has already been. In the
past, the communists at least gambled with open cards, and the now-in-power
TS-LKD, which adopted neo-Marxist ideology, tries to disguise itself under the
veil of "liberal democracy".
The real works of this party are diametrically opposed to
the claims of the program. Check out their program if you don't believe me. Voters
were brazenly deceived. Lithuania already has most of the characteristics of a
European banana republic, and the ruling coalition is steadily building a
police state.
Looking at the work of the current composition of the Seimas
or the Government, I do not remember a single law, resolution or amendment that
would have made anything easier, liberalized, cheaper, or reduced excessive
regulation or the burden of bureaucracy.
True, there is one area - narcotics. At a time when 1 in 5 young
people fail their matriculation exams, the legalization of soft narcotics - I use
this term deliberately, not to be misleading - has become one of the most
important tasks of this coalition.
The bureaucracy, which feels the pulse of politics very
well, is simply terrorizing the public. Let the drivers alone count how many
new plans to make money at their expense have been created in the past year.
The Ministry of Finance was so audacious that it sought permission for
employees of the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) to stop and check vehicle
drivers. Seimas committees are constantly developing new plans aimed at further
reducing media freedom.
The attack on a broad front is also taking place in the spiritual
realm. Lithuanian authors are encouraged to create books in "simplified
language" so that non-nationals can feel their benefits as well. Legal
absurdity and the police state are being tried to be forced into voters' beds -
the representative of the ruling Freedom faction of the Seimas had registered
amendments regarding sex without consent. These are just a few episodes that
show the systematic destruction of traditions, everything that is reasonable,
human and noble. And it is spread very widely, because scientific atheism has
again been taken out of the long-forgotten arsenal of ideological battles. The
generation with the experience of the Soviet era remembers it well. True, now
it is called "religious studies". And here the VMU professor allows
herself to comment and grind into flour the sermon of the chairman of the
Lithuanian bishops' conference at St. Berneliai Mass. And it's done in a
public, taxpayer-funded media outlet!
Lithuanian Christmas traditions were preserved in families
during the occupation and the worst of the Soviet era, and now in the
ministries controlled by the so-called conservatives, Christmas is no longer
celebrated, because it can offend those for whom it is not a holiday. Did you
vote for it and still think your vote counts? And how many Lithuanian people
and voters did they not only deceive, but also simply insulted? The so-called
conservatives have a unique feature: in a very short time, they are able to
gather large groups of society that sincerely hate them.
On the other hand, it
is a well-known truth that a nation begins to die when people are taught to
despise their history, traditions and culture.
Last year, the United Kingdom escorted Elizabeth II on her
last trip. One element of the protocol should have caught the eye of keen
observers. Some of the most honorable participants of the funeral, who arrived
at the very end of the ceremony, were all living former prime ministers and the
then prime minister. And it doesn't really matter how and under what circumstances
they ended their terms or whether they were popular, but the Prime Minister is
the highest elected official of the country and such respect reflects the
British political culture and the idea of the continuity of the state. Adolfas
Šleževičius, Prime Minister of the 6th Government, died in December. There was
no reaction from either the prime minister or the president, and after all,
this is part of our recent history, and we don't even know how to write it
humanely and culturally anymore. This should not be surprising, because now
only selective historical memory is valid, and history is being rewritten and
falsified in the eyes of living witnesses. Déjà vu!
A separate work would be needed to describe the completely
out of control economic situation. MEP Andrius Kubilius, using sophisticated
curves, assures that Lithuania has caught up with Japan, and more than eight
out of ten Lithuanians believe that the situation in the country is getting
worse. The zombified public no longer even realizes that the jump in inflation
is largely the result of the Government's incompetence, when it basically did
nothing and failed to control, according to one famous Lithuanian economist,
the "euro-liber-electro-lachatron". The price jump rippled through
all sectors. In the West, where the situation is milder, alarm bells are
ringing daily and the "affordable living crisis" is the No. 1
priority for most governments in 2023.
Most people in Lithuania do not even
understand that due to the government's powerlessness, their quality of life has
dropped by more than a quarter and no one not only does not take
responsibility, but does not even offer to explain! Do you and your voice
matter?
Lithuania also does not fulfill the mandatory criteria of
the Maastricht Treaty regarding inflation, because the Bank of Lithuania (LB)
is not doing its job. The housing interest rate is also the highest in Europe.
LB does nothing again. Let me remind you that the appointment of the head of
the LB is the president's prerogative and the field of direct responsibility.
The bad smell of financial scandals and potential cases
related to the conflicts of interests of the ministers and other employees of
this Government is coming from "Ignitis", but the prosecutor's office
is also silent. In short, laws are demonstrably not enforced and violated in
Lithuania, and there is an atmosphere of impunity in the highest levels of
government. This is possible only when various institutions, societies and
interest groups merge with the government.
The most tragic feature of Lithuanian democracy is that the
criterion of public support no longer plays any role, and ignoring public
opinion is one of the signs of totalitarianism.
The illusion is created in the public space that everything
is in order in the country, the idyll is disturbed only by small groups of
renegades, but the ruling TS-LKD is supported by only a little more than 10%.
voters. And do you remember British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was in office
for just 7 weeks and resigned sensationally? Within the margin of error, her
ranking was almost the same as that of Ingrida Šimonytė. In a mature democracy,
this means political bankruptcy, but Lithuania is not like that. So, a very
simple question: who does the Government represent and on whose behalf is this
state governed?
A few words about the parliamentary opposition or
"those" who theoretically could and should replace the fully
complicit rulers. In reality, there is no opposition, because parties whose
rating does not exceed 10% cannot be considered serious players. They are
unable to speak with one voice, choose a leader, or form a shadow government.
Have you heard from them at least one serious and reasonable alternative or
course of action? There is nothing of the sort, only isolated convulsions of
technocratic politics. The phenomenon known as "technocratic
politics" that has taken hold in Lithuania is no politics at all, it is
just the simplest bookkeeping, without any idea and values, strategy or clear
goal.
The best illustration is the Klaipėda mayor Vytautas
Grubliauskas, who fled to the Social Democrats, who explained that it was a
value choice, but he will remain a liberal at heart. Political prostitution is
taking on new colors, but let's not be mistaken, this is not a problem of V.
Grubliauskas, but of the Social Democrats. How will we have to react when they
talk about values again before the election? The army of Saulius Skvernelis was
formed from political vagrants, and other parties and factions are full of
them.
The mayor of the second largest city also set a new standard
of audacity. The list of candidates for the city council of Kaunas' governing
party "Vieninga Kaunas" includes the two sons of the mayor Visvaldas
Matijošaitis and the life partner of the city manager. And let's not be
mistaken again, this is not V. Matijošaitis's problem, he could not do it
without the whole regiment of supporters from "Vieningas Kaunas",
which calls itself an "open and responsible public organization", and
the townspeople who watch it completely passively. In the same way, the mayor
Remigijus Šimašius is a product created by the people of Vilnius, he have spit
on everything. In civilized countries, such tent circuses would have been
banished a long time ago.
Let's play a very simple game. In Western parliaments, their
members constantly emphasize their connection with the electorate, and in
listening to debates in the British parliament, I have not heard a single
speech by an MP without the words "my constituents" or "in my
constituency". Last year, the Seimas had many votes on extremely serious
issues: they voted for the incomprehensible permission for banks to monitor the
privacy of customers, on partnerships, on drugs. And now, like in school, raise
your hands those whose constituencies' elected members of the Seimas sent you a
letter or a message before those most important votes and invited you to meet
and listen to your opinion live, to consult on these very important issues. And
still think your voice matters?
Parties have lost their meaning, because they do not have
any ideological foundations that would determine value politics and draw red
lines, so we have fake conservatives, liberals, crydems, socdems.
The deficit of democracy is evident throughout all parties -
from Gabrielius Landsbergis to Ramūnas Karbauskis, S. Skvernelis, Viktor
Uspaskichs. These are dead batches because they are incapable of regeneration.
For this reason, the Seimas has also degenerated, because instead of being a
representative of the nation, it is a crudely molded, glued, stitched center of
power representation. There is no longer an a la carte menu in politics -
voters have practically no choice and only obediently follow the political
agenda presented to them.
It is obvious that due to the intellectual poverty of the
parties and intertwined interests, Lithuania is no longer able to carry out at
least a more intelligent, decisive, complex and internal policy based on real
values, to respond adequately to the serious challenges of the present.
But there will be elections and again the majority will vote
out of inertia, and not for those they like, but for those they least dislike. In
such circumstances, don't people become complicit in another economic and
social decline by participating in elections, or is it patriotic? Or maybe an
active patriotic position is just not to vote and not take responsibility for what
is being done to this country?
Our parties are like the Lithuanian Football Federation:
they can change one face or another, but the essence will remain. It just needs
to be liquidated, the premises disinfected and everything started from scratch
with completely new people. You can't ban existing parties, you just have to
ignore them. What is the solution? A strong alternative. There must be an
intelligent and strong leader who would be able to unite the country's
intellectual potential and intellectuals, now pushed to the margins, for joint
work. Traps for political defectors must be placed at the door of
this formation, because they will immediately feel where the wind is blowing
from. It's theoretically possible, but citizens who don't care about their
country need to get off their asses."
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