Two unresolved issues in Spanish politics that could eradicate corruption

The corruption scandals and mafia-like behavior that the socialists are witnessing in Spain are no coincidence.

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In my article yesterday I commented at the end that to prevent the defeat of the socialist mafia we must begin a new chapter in the history of Spain guided by the goal of preventing any other politician from doing something like this to us ever again. How can we ensure that this does not happen again?

The importance of honesty in politics

For political corruption to exist, two ingredients are necessary. The first is politicians without moral principles, who believe that the ends justify the means and who take advantage of their position to enrich themselves or abuse their authority. I emphasize the latter because many people believe that money is what blinds a person the most, but in politics, power has an even more corrupting effect, even among those who are, or seem, immune to greed.

Obviously, the ideal recipe would be to elect honest politicians, but unfortunately, this is not the norm. First, because many people are willing to excuse political corruption when it affects those with whom they are ideologically aligned, whereupon such corruption becomes a mere projection of society's vices onto its leaders. Therefore, we should not be content with waiting for people to vote for honest politicians. Good intentions are not enough.

The need for clearly limited power

Something else is needed. That something else is the other major unfinished business in Spanish politics, and also the second major ingredient for political corruption. That second ingredient is political power without clear limits or with all kinds of facilities to breach existing limits, which is what is happening in Spain with the violations of the Constitution by Pedro Sánchez's government.

If political corruption has become a cyclical problem in Spain, it is because democratic checks and balances have failed miserably, and the blame for this does not lie exclusively with the PSOE. The Popular Party had many opportunities to establish a truly independent model of justice and institutions shielded from political interference, and it failed to do so because every time one of those two parties governs, what it seeks is to occupy the large share of power previously held by its rivals.

A mere replacement is not enough: this can happen again

Certainly, the PSOE could lose the next general election and Sánchez would no longer be prime minister, but there will be no real change until Spain has a limited state, in which politicians give up the possibility of invading all spheres of society. And politicians will only give up that possibility if we pressure them to do so. If many prefer to settle for a mere replacement of one party by another, then this will happen again.

It must be said that politicians have made many Spaniards complicit in this abuse of their power. The clearest proof of this is that since 2009, there have been more civil servants than self-employed professionals in Spain, and many young people no longer dream of working in the private sector, but rather of landing a lifelong position in a public institution. This is how the socialists have managed to create an environment conducive to corruption, and when I say "the socialists," I mean those who are members of all those parties that have not the slightest will to change this, which is almost all of them.

Therefore, it is not enough to demand and support a simple change in power, which would remove the PSOE and Pedro Sánchez and replace them with others who are capable and willing to make the same mistakes. Either we demand a drastic change that limits political power and puts a stop to the abuses of those in power (which is the true cause of the serious political crisis that Spain is experiencing), or in a few years we will experience the same situation again.

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Photo: Congreso de los Diputados.