Dubious reasoning
Once again the ruling political elite seems totally unwilling not only to deal with a serious issue but to even acknowledge its existence. The government reacts as if no one had any idea that people in political and economic circles had invested on the Athens bourse – making lavish profits when hundreds of thousands of small investors lost their savings. It acts as if conservative deputies had not said in Parliament that government circles enjoy exclusive access to stock price information, as if the stock market never burst. Still the government pretends to know nothing on the subject. Faced with a major issue that questions the political morality of Socialist cadres, representatives of PASOK’s reformist wing have once again reiterated the government’s supposed determination to impose full transparency on political life (as if one could possibly be against transparency) and stressed the need to take to the prosecutor any information concerning any politician’s illicit economic activity. They have also emphasized that gains by Socialist cadres were acquired in a perfectly legal manner – as if legality is the only thing that matters in this case. If one took the government’s claims seriously, then one would be surprised at the current brouhaha and express support for the affluent politicians who have come under fire by vicious circles that want to malign a fine government. The government also made the usual claim (more familiar to authoritarian movements) that those who attack the politicians aim to undermine political stability. Does this mean that we’d better remain silent in the face of such phenomena for the sake of democracy? Unfortunately, this anti-democratic reasoning is part of the reformists’ political arsenal.
