Democrazy or what?

Now that Europe seems to be crumbling before our eyes, one can’t help but wonder what Sir Winston would have said about the events taking place in the country that invented democracy 26 centuries ago.

One of Churchill’s favorite subjects was the malfunction of democracy. “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise”, he said in the British House of Commons on November 11th, 1947. And he went on to call it the worst form of government, leaving his colleagues astounded, until he finished his sentence with one of his characteristic quips: “…except for all the others that have been tried from time to time”.

Now that Europe seems to be crumbling before our eyes, one can’t help but wonder what Sir Winston would have said about the events taking place in the country that invented democracy 26 centuries ago. Because the Greeks seem to be voting themselves not only out of the Euro, but out of democracy itself.

Meanwhile, Spain is extremely vigilant of all things Greek, because the communist Podemos party has applauded Tsipras since he was elected and the landslide “No” at the Greek Referendum was ecstatically celebrated by Pablo Iglesias and his acolytes. When the Oxi result became known on Monday, the Podemos leader tweeted “Today democracy has won”. But in 2014 he had published the book Disputing Democracy, with a prologue by Alexis Tsipras, no less.

As most Germans know, it is possible for a country to vote unknowingly for a fake democrat who, once elected, can enforce a totalitarian regime, which was what Adolf Hitler did after his 1934 victory. The five Spaniards in this picture are King Emeritus Juan Carlos I, President Rajoy and ex presidents González, Aznar and Zapatero. All of them are fully aware of the setback that a Podemos victory would represent for Spain. When your country is an 800-year-old democracy like Great Britain, you can affect disdain. Spaniards born under Dictator Franco dare not take that chance.