Archive note: This text comes from the old archive of Nomika Epilekta and is preserved with care for historical and informational reading.

An independent member of parliament formerly belonging to PASOK stated on the evening of 03.11.2011 that there is a gap between politicians and society...

It was created, he said, because of the economic crisis and the erratic measures, the extremely heavy taxes, and hardship...

We correct him. In our country there has always been an unbridgeable gap between the people and politicians, especially members of parliament and party officials who held offices and took part in state power.

Not only politicians close to the government but also those enlisted in the armies of parties and party fragments have always had power and, because of it, have prevailed.

They worthily replaced the local notables and dignitaries of foreign rule and took their privileges, authority, and comforts. Even their language. This happened because the Greek people observe their traditions at any price. They do not keep pace with the times. They remain in the past and honor whatever they inherited. They do not realize that we are in the twenty-first century of rapid change, questioning, and upheaval.

For this reason the political dynasties of the leaders who governed and continue to govern undisturbed were preserved, accumulating unbelievable wealth, power, and glory together with their relatives, friends, and close associates.

Which citizen can meet a politician, minister, general secretary, or even the last government hanger-on? Without an intermediary and the mediation of some powerful factor?

As for the prime minister and the president of the republic, there is not even any discussion. They are unapproachable. They are surrounded by their court and flatterers like emperors of Roman decline. All together they enjoy power as only they know how, living like parasites, without oversight, beyond reach, boasting, wronging others, and degrading their offices, institutions, and the country.

Therefore the gap was not created because of the crisis. It always existed and was the obstacle between people and power, people and politics.

People without talent, without education, professionally failed, unable to manage even a kiosk in a remote village on Taygetus, once they climb up and mutate into politicians, are transformed. They are separated from the people by a gap. They become inaccessible, rarely seen. They seize the ladle and rush in, eating to bursting point the flesh of the country itself.

In our country there is no democratic education. This absence enlarges the gap between politicians and people. That is why the party leader is deified, considered infallible, and everyone grants him, without owing it, absolute faith and devotion.

Because of the gap between politicians and society, the former cannot perceive the needs of the people and, isolated, make one mistake after another. They succeed only in their own enrichment, which they regard as an inalienable right. They too have acquired rights and, like the members of guilds, are secured.

The citizen cannot communicate directly with any politician, whether of the government or the opposition. Secretaries, employees, guards, and other intermediaries stand between them and block communication between the plebeians and the patricians of politics.

The citizen receives similar treatment from officials of all branches of the state. A citizen cannot meet a minister without undergoing numerous trials and humiliations of waiting, postponement, and checks, unless he belongs to the higher income or party classes. A citizen cannot meet a member of parliament unless he belongs to the same classes. A citizen cannot even behold a judicial officer unless he belongs to the privileged, to the patricians.

Between civil society and politicians, among whom are included the officials of all three powers, there is a gap that only true democracy can bridge, a democracy that comes from education. Without it, the idealists struggle in vain, those about whom Miguel de Cervantes wrote in Don Quixote...