The exercise of power is indispensable if things are to get done, but in a democracy it needs to be transparent and subjected to a clear accountability about how it happens. Otherwise it ends up as illegitimate and abusive. Unfortunately this occurs in our country across a wide front and we still have not succeeded to deal with the problem.
Indeed we have become so accustomed to live with it that we hardly notice it at all. Whoever observes us from outside finds that it is prevalent here to a much greater extent than in his/her own country or elsewhere. This is contributing much more than do other factors to earn a bad name for us.
It is a mistake to associate the problem only with politics and public affairs. Despite what some pretend, it features across almost all economic sectors. Money power exists just as much as does political power. Its reach is demonstrated by the fact that while we have accepted the free market economy as the guideline by which the country should be run, the regulatory functions that need to also be put in place have been left extremely weak, or subject to subterranean manipulation, as in the case of consumer protection and the environment.
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THE ANTI-VAXXERS
The anti-vaxxers who contest their exclusion from public establishments complain that their basic rights are being trampled upon.
Personally I feel that it is true that their rights are being restricted, but that this is justified because of the health emergency that the world is facing. Their refusal to be inoculated is helping to increase the number of people who will be infected, making it more likely that hospitals will not be able to cope and manage their other essential tasks.
To complicate matters, some also argue that the urgency claimed for the pandemic is being exagerrated by conspiring politicians, doctors and pharmaceutical firms.
One question that gets asked goes as follows: Would the anti-vaxxers forego being taken to hospital if they get Covid and are in a bad way?
That would not be an appropriate way to proceed though.
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THE THREE KINGS
The tradition has been completely lost of the Three Kings as a holiday that comes a week after New Year’s Day to commemorate the mythical arrival of three Magi from Persia at the manger where Baby Jesus was still being nursed. At least, that was what we would be told when I was a kid.
At that time, the holidays would start some three days before Xmas and end with the arrival of the Magi, or slightly more than two weeks in all. This time round, were it not for the pandemic, schools would have opened last Monday.
A friend warned me there is no reason to lament that school holidays have decreased over the years, for indeed, they have actually increased over what they were in my “times”. As he made his point, I remembered that then, schools would close during the second week of July, while today the summer holidays actually begin much earlier.