The integrity of public officials and the regrettable responses of one of them

I'm one of those naive people who believe that, despite everything, politics is a service profession that should be dignified.

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Politics and the Sense of Honor

Of course, regenerating that profession is something that falls first and foremost to politicians: they must set an example with their conduct, both inside and outside of institutions. It's not enough for them to have good ideas: they must act with honor, with a spirit of service and respect for the citizens they serve. This is something we should ask above all of the politicians we support, because our trust in them must be based on demands, not on the belief that anything goes to win over their rivals.

As a voter, I have spent a decade supporting a political project with which I have never been affiliated, but in which I have trusted not only in the belief that it defended the same principles as me, but that it also defended them with a sense of honor. In the third article I dedicated to that project, on January 17, 2014, I wrote this paragraph:

The democratic regeneration that is needed in Spain implies that citizens regain confidence in institutions. In addition to the legislative measures necessary to achieve it, achieving this goal is unthinkable if the people who must achieve it do not inspire confidence in citizens. In other words: If we don't see politicians as good people, we can't expect them to work for the benefit of the nation.

The Honesty of Public Officials

In that article, I also lamented "the insistence of many political representatives on ignoring their constituents, the conception of politics as a war in which anything goes to defeat the rival, and the treatment of serious and complex issues with simplicity, if not resorting to the most lamentable political hooliganism. We Spaniards have associated political life with dirty tricks, and by this I don't only mean many who already serve in institutions, but also some who claim to aspire to change that panorama."

a href="https://www.voxespana.es/espana/manifiesto-fundacional-vox" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The founding manifesto of that project not only contained ideas I agreed with, but also included in the first paragraph, among other objectives, "improving the quality of institutions" and "ensuring the integrity of public officials."

"Obsessed with Putin"

In recent weeks, I've been sadly reminded of that article I wrote in 2014. On March 3, after politely expressing my disagreement with the position that this project has taken regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a councilor from that party told me that I am "obsessed with Putin". It wasn't just any councilor from some small town who told me this: it was a member of that party's national executive committee who told me this.

I don't know what this person means by "obsession." I've been criticizing Putin's dictatorship for many years, a tyrant with a habit of poisoning his opponents and invading neighboring countries. I never imagined that someone would attribute to me an "obsession" for opposing a dictator, and that this criticism would come from a member of the national executive committee of the party I've been voting for for a decade, since its founding. But the worst was yet to come.

Presenting the explosions of a Russian attack as 'farting'

This Tuesday, after a long phone conversation between Trump and Putin, Russia once again launched attacks against civilian targets in Ukraine. The Russian attack was carried out with 6 missiles and 145 attack drones. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 72 drones in 12 provinces. In Kyiv, the attack damaged several homes and injured a 60-year-old man. At the time the attack was taking place, a Spanish journalist based in the Ukrainian capital wrote: "Barely an hour into the phone call between Putin and Trump, and explosions are already being heard here in Kyiv."

The same councilor who told me I was "obsessed with Putin" replied to that Spanish journalist with these words: "Let's see if it's farts. See and see". A mean way to refer to a Russian attack against the capital of Ukraine. Dozens of people have criticized that response in the last few hours. I simply showed the response of that councilor pointing out that he is a member of the national executive committee of the third most voted party in Spain. An hour later, that councilman responded to me with this response:

"Let's see if I'm going to have to accept your nonsense and your stubbornness and, what's worse, tell the rest of us how to think. There you go !"

Leaving aside the poorly written nature of that tweet, it's curious to see that a message drawing attention to such a shameful attitude is interpreted by that councilor as an "obsession" and an attempt to tell others how they should think. Honestly, I'm amazed. To top it all off, that councilor blocked me on Twitter. That's how they say thanks for a decade of support for that party.

A change that goes beyond ideas

Since its public launch in January 2014, I have met excellent people in that party. Some are still members, while others are no longer. I have known the party president personally since before its founding, and he has always treated me cordially and friendly. I don't know what is happening in that party that makes these things happen and that people like that councilor are on the national executive committee.

What's increasingly clear to me is that, leaving aside my disagreements with the direction that party has taken in international politics, especially since it decided to change parliamentary groups in Brussels, it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to identify attitudes like that councilor's—this is no longer an isolated case—with what that founding manifesto said about "improving the quality of institutions" and "guaranteeing the integrity of public officials."

I don't see how anyone can contribute to those objectives by launching such a despicable message about an airstrike against an invaded country and treating a loyal voter the way that person did yesterday, adopting an attitude very similar to that of politicians from other parties, who believe that we citizens are at their service and not the other way around. The excuse that others do it doesn't work for me: I don't vote for others.

We can't support a party as if it were a football club.

I haven't changed my principles since I founded this blog. I continue to defend Ukraine's cause just as I did in 2022. I continue to criticize Vladimir Putin's dictatorship just as I did 16 years ago. I still believe in the need to regenerate politics and in the demand that public officials behave in an exemplary manner. I will continue to defend this even if doing so means losing followers. For the rest, I remember what I said here 10 years ago: my vote is mine, it is not the property of any party. If a party wants to receive that vote, it has to prove it deserves my trust. We can't continue supporting parties like we support a football club, and if some people don't want to understand that, they have a big problem.

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Photo: Ole Witt.