By Costas Iordanidis

A sure sign of collapse is when words lose their meaning. Soon after democracy was reinstated in Greece, the idea that political parties had to be based on “programs” and “principles” quickly began to gain prevalence. In the 30 years that have elapsed since, it has become apparent that “principles” are contrived in order to be violated and “programs” in order to be ignored. If this were not true, Greece would never have been in the predicament it finds itself in today.

The political party behind some of the most outrageous mutations of these two concepts is PASOK. New Democracy fell in line with obvious unease as it found itself incapable of dealing with a situation dominated on a fundamental institutional level by arrogance and the complete abolition of hierarchy.

There is nothing odd, therefore, about the fact that citizens today are extremely skeptical of any announcement of a “program,” whichever party it comes from. This means that on May 6 they will vote exclusively on the basis of their experiences because, quite simply, the parties themselves have behaved in an irrational manner for decades.

There is no real question of “programs” and “principles” to speak of. There is simply the commitment of PASOK and New Democracy to the implementation of the memorandum. The crazy thing is that the champions of the memorandum have in their majority never read the terms of the agreement. The same goes for the critics of the memorandum, who, moreover, have no alternative to propose.

It is obvious that Greece is ailing from political primitivism. This has been proved by decades of so-called modernization that led to unprecedented corruption, as seen most recently in the case of Akis Tsochatzopoulos, a founding member of PASOK.

Everyone agrees that we are in dire straits, but instead of confessing and telling the truth, this country’s politicians keep talking about the prospects of “growth” in terms that are almost supernatural.

But growth cannot come about before the current construct is completely destroyed, and this was the essence of the message sent by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Nurturing delusions at this point constitutes a major political crime, because when the bubble bursts, as it surely will, the situation will be impossible to control.