Treason

by Capricorner

Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary. An Encyclopedia Britannica Company.

Question: Do any of the above words apply to the deeds of both “current” and former Prime Ministers, Karamanlis and Papandreou ?

Karamanlis had won an election promising to “re-found” the Greek State. Did he? NO. Instead he carried on in the typical Greek political “business as usual” fashion. He won a second election promising to improve Governance and the Economy. Did he? NO. Instead he did nothing beneficial for the country, which is the implicit duty of a Prime Minister, on the contrary.

Papandreou won an election promising the party would go on. Did it? NO. Instead he offered the country painful austerity.

Were both Karamanlis and Papandreou knowingly promising what they had no intention to do, or, were they, inadvertently, promising what they were not able to do? If knowingly, does any of the above synonyms to treason describe their action? If unwittingly, does the word moron describe them?

Why did Karamanlis carry on “business as usual” when he inherited a National debt about equal the size of the Greek Economy? Did anyone put a gun on his head demanding he increases the National debt by an additional 50% to its present un-manageable level?

Papandreou knew full well what the debt was. Why did he refrain from taking any action to save the country until the situation closed in on him, by which time it was too late?

Do the words: betrayal of trust : describe their attitude towards the country?

The trade Unions have become part of the political system. Their influence on the Economy … detrimental, to say the least. To materialize their demands they go to extremes that damage the economy, witness the blackouts from the strikes of the Public Electricity Enterprise Union which bring damage to thousands of businesses, offices and homes and antagonize the citizens. The stance of the Unions is always confrontational, witness the strikes from the transportation Unions which denied, in the Holliday season of last December, the retail trade of the city center the opportunity to stem, with the help of the Holliday sales, some of the losses of the previous months, by making access to the city center difficult.

In the peak of the Tourist season the Seamen Union has gone on strike, twice so far, preventing passengers to board ships, or passengers from cruise ships to disembark and new passengers to embark, obliging cruise lines to take Greece out of their schedule, tourists to become negatively disposed and the World to be advised that Greece is a bad destination. Exactly what the shrinking Greek economy needs.

Why could not Greece have its Unions out of the political system and have them respect the people? Why have they both allowed them immunity from the legal repercussions of their excesses? Unions in the other EU countries can bring discomfort but not pain to their people, their Economies, when they strike. Did they both have a mandate from the people to provide impunity to the Unions which ignore all court decisions? Is this betrayal of trust?

The Greek Universities are a mess. Politics, where there should be nothing of that sort, have sunk the institutions to disgrace, their academic standards to an unacceptably low level. What have both Papandreou and Karamanlis done to remedy the situation? Nothing. Was this a mandate from the people?

In the Armed Forces politics determine the fate of their leaders to a great extent. Is this to the country’s benefit? Is this what the people have elected them for?

Currently the Government is pushing through Parliament a very austere program aimed at saving the country. WHY? Because it failed to honor its commitment to the Memorandum signed last year with which the country would get the funds it needed and would, at the same time, proceed to reduce deficits and to also streamline its Economy along the patterns which ensure prosperity. Papandreou once again told the country (and its saviors) one thing and proceeded to do something other than what was agreed, nothing. Had the people known this, in advance, would they have approved his actions/reactions? They were not asked. Does this constitute faithlessness?

The crowds gathering in city squares and outside the Parliament are obviously UN- and MIS-informed. Has the Government, or the opposition, come out with the truth about the unmanageable indebtedness of the country? NO. It would be a confession of the culpability of both the parties and so they let the crowd remain ignorant and thus easy to succumb to inflammatory rhetoric which may ignite social unrest, catastrophic for the country in its present miserable situation. Have both Papandreou and Samaras honored the trust of the people?

Are the leaders of Greece in breach of an implicit “contract” with the country? A contract of faith? When they ask the people to entrust them with the Premiership in order to do, what they promise to do, and then fail to honor their promises, is this a de facto betrayal of trust? Is betrayal tantamount to treason ? Only legal minds can answer that. Lay minds can think of the words of the wise American President

Abraham Lincoln who said :

YOU CAN FOOL ALL OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIMES

SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIMES

BUT YOU CAN’T FOOL ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIMES.