The only good thing about this campaign is that it’s over. Other than that, there was nothing to choose from. A continuous banging through the mud, a series of betrayals, lies, manipulations, and victimizations, thick populism.
It ended with a wave of overlapping criminal complaints and a thick scent of securitism, regardless of which direction we look at the latest revelations.
But the hardest part to bear was the hatred poured out from the hermetic bubbles towards arguments and critical thinking, radicalized to hysteria. Georgism has spread endemically and has canceled the chance for any real debate, for reasoned polemics, and respect for opposing views.
What was supposed to be a celebration of democracy has miserably failed into abjection, fury, and obsession. Deep trenches have been dug between social groups, within communities and families, wounds have been inflicted that will heal slowly and leave scars. Decent and rational people, driven by an invincible demon, have shattered their mirrors and become what they detested.
Otherwise, nothing. No glimmer of authentic vision for Romania, no solid discussion about the president's real competencies, just a play of mirages and lures.
From Monday, we will start all over again with another campaign. And there will be the expectation that the festival of spitting and insults will suddenly turn into a great reconciliation. People who were urged to hate other candidates will be called upon to support them.
And then, when everything will eventually come to an end, however it may end, where and how will we find the inner resources to start over and rediscover the lost compass in the very difficult period that will follow. Because whoever wins, for sure, it will be very hard for everyone.
How will we face the revelation that life in Romania and on Earth does not end on May 18, but will continue exactly from the ruins and ashes we are creating now?
I have no hope that reason can pierce through the thick fog of extreme emotions and contorted screaming. And yet, I do my duty.
Dear people, for 30 years we have been disappointed by those we choose. These repeated disappointments have brought us to the current situation and have generated the paradoxical political phenomena that hit us like a meteorite last year.
But for there to be disappointment, there must be a sine qua non premise - deception. And in politics, most of the time, deception is actually self-deception, by loading a candidate with one's own need for hope, with one's expectations, with the projection of a savior leader.
If hope and expectations are not realistic, they cannot be fulfilled. Saviors exist only in stories and movies.
Vote for whom you believe deserves it, no one has the right to challenge your choice, to shame you for it.
But vote realistically, knowing precisely what the president can do, what are his powers and limits, in what political configuration we are after December 1, what are the constitutional political mechanisms. Evaluating the candidates correctly, without mythologies, make-up, and without fear.
If you start from correct premises, there is a good chance you will get the expected result. If you deceive yourself, the result can only be disappointment.