An alchemist in power

Forgive all the leaders, deputy leaders, and pseudo-leaders swarming around this country, but for yet another week, your adversary, Mr. Pedro Sánchez, is making adversity his ally. He has the luck of champions, but he also has an added and fundamental value in life: he's like a magician who summons fortune, and fortune comes to his aid. Let's look at three examples: when the first news about his wife was published, it was so dramatic that he accepted the idea of ​​resigning. A year has passed since the incident, and his teams are busy demonizing the judge investigating the case. Then came catastrophes like the Dana, and the gods surrounded Sánchez, proclaimed him innocent, and crucified Mazón. And these last few days have been glorious. The blackout was unprecedented. It paralyzed even the country's breathing. But the alchemists at Moncloa found a way to turn lead into gold, and by magic, the disaster of inefficiency became a model of efficiency that the government boasts about as if it were true. If a similar miracle occurs for the railway chaos, the new pope will beatify the Hispanic miracle worker. Laus Deo .

Given what we've seen, it's not surprising that capricious events occur that seem like a display of fantasy. I'm thinking, for example, of the idea of ​​promoting a social consultation—I dare not call it popular—to decide whether to authorize BBVA's purchase of Banco Sabadell. Once again, something unprecedented. Hemmed in by the demands of free enterprise and the conditions of the Catalan independence movement, and hamstrung by their lack of courage to decide on a transaction in which so many interests clash, the decision is delegated to the people with three questions that only professional economists know how to answer. The Catalans are not prepared to decide their future in a referendum, but they are prepared for an extremely complex economic decision that takes great experts years to understand.

Summary: We are going through times that many voices—not only from the PP—describe as chaotic. The transcendent issues brought before Congress are leading to even more transcendent ones, as happened with the blackout and the electricity system, which is no longer presented as a technical issue, but as a dogma. And none of these issues is immune to polarization. The Popular Party protests that the Government won't accept any of its proposals; the Executive, with its scheduled cascade of ministerial storms, accuses the PP of being an instrument for executing the worst far-right policies. In that struggle, Sánchez spent almost 50 minutes last Wednesday disqualifying Feijóo, while failing to mention, or even mentioning, the major issue of the €10 billion increase in defense spending. It's all a battle of personalities.

And this, or something similar, is what state policy has given us in recent years. It's no surprise that interest in public affairs is at an all-time low and, as a result, Spanish society is showing new signs of anesthesia. And social anesthesia, in a democracy, is often a harbinger of regression.

SCRAPS

Ultras . The rise of the far right continues unabated. Romania and the United Kingdom are the latest examples. An interesting reflection from a conservative leader: "If the Spanish far right isn't growing as much as the European one, the Popular Party must deserve some credit."

Money . The ministers most active in travel and speeches are the PSOE candidates in the autonomous communities. Under what conditions do they act, speak, and travel? It's not a trivial question. It's important to clarify whether their expenses and allowances are paid by the party or the taxpayer, which is you and me.

Speech . A worrying devaluation of political discourse. The government is busy labeling as fascists or extremists anyone who disagrees with its ideological line or its ministerial management. Is this their understanding of pluralism? They're thirty years behind the times.

Train . I'm terrified that what happened on the high-speed lines was sabotage. If sabotage is carried out on trains, we don't know how audacious the perpetrators can be. Let's not forget that trains can travel at 300 kilometers per hour.

Judge . I dare not applaud or criticize Judge Juan Carlos Peinado for the steps he's taken in the so-called Begoña case: every investigating judge must thoroughly investigate any indication of a crime. There's no other way to get to the truth. Not to do so, your honor, would be malfeasance.