Instability
If we take a look at the political crisis that is occurring in Italy now, we are witnessing a recurrence of the instability of past governments. This unfavorable trait has plagued Italy continuously after World War II to this day.
One exception has been recently the government of Silvio Berlusconi, who was able to keep a coalition of center and right parties for five years. But now we are back to a precarious government structure of the left, a ragtag coalition of parties and ideologies often clashing amongst them on vital issues, like foreign policies and funding of civil projects.
What is at the root of this instability is found in some basic tenets of Italian politics. One is the tendency of each party to look first at their internal interests, sacrificing the overall well being of the country. While this is present in other democracies, it is more acute in Italy. There are also some fundamental divisions in the way society is viewed by opposite sides of the political spectrum.
The left adheres generally to the principle that anyone who meets financial success and accumulates wealth is inherently and practically corrupt.
This communist, I should say Marxist view, is poisoning the air and surfaces constantly in debates, in organized manifestations and in the way the left wing conducts the analysis of economic issues.
In the present government coalition exist parties like “Rifondazione Comunista” and “Partito Comunista Italiano”, who direct their continuous effort to 1) tax the rich, 2) maintain high entitlement distributions regardless of economic health, and 3) fight any policy that suggests support to U.S. involvement. Since these parties are instrumental in creating a majority in government, they bring an important slant and instability to government action.
On the other side of the spectrum, parties of the right support a modern view of the economy and subscribe to the general idea that you should do something for the country instead of the other way around.
They try to institute policies that help not only the large industries but particularly the small entrepreneur, particularly to ease the tax burden that stifles the growths of small to medium enterprises. The right generally favors the policies of the United States and thus is named “submissive to the United States” by the left.
The polarization is acute and the Italian people witness daily the clash of these forces in many aspects of their daily lives, not only in the halls of congress and senate. For example it is a known fact that organized strikes are very frequent in Italy, with resulting paralysis of economic growth.
What is amazing is that in a country where individual accomplishments have created incredible results recognized by the entire world, like fashion, race cars, artistic masterpieces, foods, architecture and on and on, there still exist political parties that use the word Communist, thus representing an ideology that over and over has proven to be disastrous and anti-individual. A real puzzle.
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