Ethics in politics: a wealthy misery of nonsense

In our reality, politics continue to be carried out as the highest form of class struggle - precisely in the spirit of Lenin's practice of political violence. Along with the suppression of the right to an opinion and 'cadre screening' by the media, this opens up a broad avenue for neo-fascism. Another peculiarity of the Leninist practice in Slovakia is the class struggle in its ideological form, which is taken care of by the media, ideological institutions and non-governmental organisations financed from abroad and, in some cases, even by the Slovak government itself.

But to be fair to Lenin... Even the economic form of class struggle, as defined by Lenin, sometimes surfaces in the form of strikes for wage rises. For instance, the recent strikes of teacher and health worker trade unions unveiled many of the unhealthy practices of the Slovak media. If we look back at the media that supported the strike, they acted exactly like the Bolsheviks. Their role was to bring this wage conflict to the boil at all costs, although it had been clear in advance how the matter would be resolved by legal means. In short, they tried to turn economic conflict into a political power struggle. They even managed to turn bosses of trade unions that have no members into virtual media personalities - unfortunately, there are enough unrecognised geniuses that can be hired for a job like this in any regime. Social-engineering projects (and that is exactly what this is) rely on the fact that, after a political conflict, 80 % of people are drawn back to political power, even if a virtual leader is used. Just like after 1989, when the Communist party became the midwife for all political parties without distinction.

All of those who have been mentioned so far closely follow Lenin's principles of political violence. That is what we see on-line on TV when watching broadcasts from press conferences. Most people quit watching the wannabe opinion-making, mainstream media just to maintain their mental health. Well, what a pity that they have to pay for the privilege whether they want to or not. The term 'political power struggle' has been replaced by 'fair political competition'. It is so fair that, in many ways, the political arena resembles a stadium taken over by rowdies. But the root of the term 'government' is to 'govern' and, in Slovakia, too, it is executed by means of three separate branches of power. There is hardly anything that can be changed about this, except for the quality of government, which is extremely poor. No one has invented anything better. The dream of generations of anarchists about managing the society through civilian self-government is a utopia safely eliminated by local mafias, both in cities and rural areas.

History shows us that democracy can only develop and expand under pressure 'from below' because power is indivisible and, above all, corruptible. Democracy and dictatorship have been, and will long continue to be, polar categories in philosophy. Indeed, one cannot exist without the other. Only in the confused minds of liberals, democracy does not have a 'material bearer', a man of meat and bone. They substituted people with a multicultural monstrosity, which, in reality, is rarer than the fairy tale unicorn. In fact, for the end-users of this software, their shoreless democracy can be strictly defined by a single question of the plebs (the poor). Who is this democracy without people intended for and, especially, whom will the dictatorship be forced upon? In the better-case scenario, could it be dictatorship determined by the legal system?

So, based on total realism, which still applies, none of the so-called scientific studies, colloquia and international congresses hopelessly trying to reconcile something irreconcilable, i.e. ethics and politics, will help us.

The only ethics-related action that can realistically be put into practice in politics is a certain level of responsibility, which, in Slovak reality, cannot be done by ethical means due to by the monarchist privileges of politicians in the parliament and the judiciary, and the monopoly of truth with regard to the interpretation of events. Violations of the Slovak Constitution by constitutional officials can be seen live on TV. Sociologist and politician Max Weber is also an advocate of political responsibility. He advises that politicians should evaluate not only the objectives but also the consequences of their actions. According to Weber, "a politician should be charismatic, have extraordinary leadership skills, passion, temperament and a sense of proportion that will help him develop his own personality potential and, above all, professionalism, which should not go against morality." Our politicians do not even come close to this set of requirements. Moreover, even if they possess some of the traits described by Weber, they are quick to use double standards when applying them. Due to the absence, since 1989, of functions that would put power under control 'from below', the space for any constructive criticism and expansion of democracy has been eroded again. Political programmes of most parties are an example of marketing perjury and are immediately forgotten after the elections.

Amid media violence, as a specific type of violence, relatively rapid changes are also taking place in Slovakia. First of all, the media are still usurping a share of power. But, there is a but! Since the media are being passed to the hands of corporations or, in some cases, operate as corporations themselves, this situation is only temporary. So far, the approach of multinational corporations to political parties and the media has been reminiscent of that to football clubs, they acted only as their owners, not publicly, but behind the scenes. However, this will change, too.

Because of time constraints, the mainstream or, loosely translated, those who think they are the public opinion-makers, does not stand a chance of surviving in a world of social media and the Internet, unless it itself functions as a corporation. But that would not be the worst. Due to the fact that political parties and the media are only an interface of ideological power, their activities are slowing down the globalisation processes pushed for by corporations. The aforementioned speed of the ongoing information processes is sure to drive them out of the society in the future.

The result of this acceleration process is that corporate oligarchs are starting to use their power by directly participating in politics. Voters, as we know them, will gradually turn into consumers of not only goods but also ideas. While we are witnessing the complete oligarchisation of politics in Ukraine leading to a breakup of the country, this process is only at the beginning in the Czech Republic in the form of oligarch Babiš and his, originally, employees' party. In Slovakia, this process is taking place in secret, but, to a small extent, it is transpiring to the public, too.

As a counterpart to objective development, there is, for example, the effort of political parties to stop the erosion of the state. Despite the effort of the Slovak National Party and the coalition, in the long run, this effort is still doomed to an existential failure anyway. The natural elimination of political parties by integrating them into corporations as their future organisational components and the financial collapse of the media are phenomena that can already be observed today. Even a break-up of the EU will not prevent the dismantling of states; it will only partially decelerate this social development. It may slow down globalisation, under the pressure of the economy, however, states will turn into companies.

The oligarchisation of the system will also solve the headaches of the immigrant-loving 'café intellectuals' over how to make peace between ethics and politics. Ethics in politics, except for full legal responsibility - and let me underline 'legal responsibility' - of politicians for their actions is only a rich misery of nonsense. The chances of resolving this pseudo-problem in Slovakia are about as high as the second return of Jesus Christ.

Jan Campbell, Peter Čatloš, Ján Gabriel, Jacques Hogard,
Peter Kasalovský, Gustáv Murín, Heidy Schwarczová and Ján Šály

Members of the Informal Economic Forum Economic Club Association Slovakia
Bratislava, May 28, 2017