The Prime Minister (Mr. Karamanlis) is touring the country, up to the end of July, when he will retreat on holidays, closely followed by the head of the opposition Socialist party (Mr. Papandreou).
They are giving speeches to ecstatic crowds bearing party flags, and making promises they both know they can not keep. Not surprisingly the cameras are closely following them, and the news are airing the scenes and have panels of politicians from the two parties analysing their every syllable, trying to convince us that they represent the end of the country's problems. If people from outer space were to land in the center of Athens, we would not know because of the TV coverage of our two great leaders!
Meanwhile, all Greeks are chasing a daily living (working two and sometimes three jobs), trying to keep up with prices of goods which are always on the rise, paying off debts, and dealing with a public system that is old, slow, inefficient and corrupt.
What has led to this state of affairs? It is precisely these political figures and their highly revered families! Please note:
- 1944 - George Papandreou Sr, Prime Minister
- 1955 - Contantine Karamanlis, Prime Minister
- 1980 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister
Their legacy?
George Papandreou Sr. ,who considered the Greek Communist party a threat to the country, with his actions in '44 - '45, led Greece to a five year long civil war. Five years of Greeks fighting Greeks, while the German occupation of the country lasted four years!
Constantine Karamanlis, with his policy, led to the excessive build up of Athens, congregating the Greek population in a concrete monster, while the rest of the country was left in a medieval state. God help you if you happen to break a bone in a small town in the Greek countryside!
Andreas Papandreou, polarised people in this country, promising a lot and delivering nothing. In order to win a second term, he spent public money to attract voters and gifted the country with a large dept, which has since been multiplying.
Now their offspring are upon us, not having worked for a single minute in their lives, wanting a piece of the action, and blaming each other for the current state of affairs while at it. We have given them the right to believe that this country is part of the family treasure that is passed on from one generation to the next.
Meanwhile, we are stuck in the middle of this farce, hit left, right and center by daily life problems; watching numb, while scandals that would lead to the fall of governments in other countries, burst to the surface and then promptly covered up. Life goes on as though nothing happened, while they try to put us at the throats of one another to ensure their victory in the next election. It is a nightmare with no end!
These assholes are slowly but steadily destroying everything that this proud nation has ever created.
- It is an embarrassing fact that we are 1st in the EU with the highest illiteracy percentage of population.
- We have the top or second from top unemployment percentage in the EU,
- While the ones who do work are the most overworked and most underpaid.
- They are trying to stop the young generations from learning the proper facts about our history, because it may offend our good neighbours the Turks. The slaughtering of thousands of Greeks in Asia minor, in the new history books appears as "a congregation of people in the harbour trying to get a boat home". (I can forgive, but don't ask me to forget!)
- There is hardly any art or science produced in this country, although everyone seems to "think they can dance", or want to be the next "pop idol",
- And Greece has become notorious for human trafficing.
Democracy has become a whore in their hands. It has become one of the most misused words universally, following the word "free" when uttered from Dubya's mouth.
