I'm borrowing the term from someone, but it seems to me quite apt. The truth is, I am trying. I've been playing the dutiful little citizen, trying to make some semblance of sense out of my country's political landscape, as on Sunday, presidential elections begin. In Romania, it's spread out across two separate rounds, presumably to separate the wheat from the chaff. In theory, only. If we were to really be discarding the chaff, we'd be left to stay home on the second round. Alas.
I was talking to a friend the other night. She was horrified that I'd consider staying home on election day, yet when I asked who she was voting for, she replied 'no clue'. But the conclusion of the conversation was that you have to go vote, to choose the "lesser evil".
I'm not nearly as deluded as I'd need to be to presume that I know what the lesser evil is.
The quote-unquote progressive liberals of Romania are worried that George Simion, the leader of AUR, the nationalist party, is gonna be president. That, they seem to have decided, is the greater evil and must be stopped at all cost.
Personally, I don't know that that's true. I have it on quite good authority (on top of my own power of judgment) that this so-called nationalist party of ours is nothing more than state-controlled opposition. To see the "icons" of patriotism and "the right" in Romania would leave you in shudders, as they're one more goofy and caricatured than the next.
They are not nationalism. They are clowns set in place to discredit nationalism.
On the other hand, this guy is the only person currently in politics who organized anti-lockdown protests back in the day. It was a bit scary, to have our small handful or regular protesters suddenly turn and see tens of thousands of rowdy, organized protesters coming towards you. To join you, sure, but these things have a way of getting out of hand. Nevertheless, self-serving or no, controlled or not, he was the only one who said something against the draconian Covid regime.
To me, that gives him a leg to stand on, certainly more than the other so-called candidates, and statistics seem to reflect that. Indeed, Simion is coming out second in all polls and seems to have the highest chance of getting to the next round.
The man in first position, Romania's current PM, belongs to the socialist-democratic party. The old people's party. The party who came along to replace the Communists in the 90s, further damning the country. He's no bueno either.
What else have we got? A so-called progressive lady with painfully whitened teeth and a passable shit-eating grin. The former PM whom no one in the country seems to even consider a serious candidate, and a small handful of has-beens or independents with no serious shot at the presidency.
So... what then?
The person I stole the title from says we should annul the election. Go draw a penis on the ballot or make up our own candidates. By right, if enough people did that, the election would indeed get annulled and re-held. But what then? We're right back where we started, presented with a line of "slavery legitimizers" and the illusion of choice.
What if the 'lesser evil' doesn't refer to a candidate/party, at all?
I've written many times about my mistrust in the election system, both here and abroad. Elections are corrupt to their very core and nothing you or I do will actually change that. There's nothing you can do, including "using your vote" so that they can't steal it. Right, because the people who were setting out to steal an election will see everyone's used up their vote and go "those damn kids have foiled our plans. Oh well".
Except this nihilistic, depressive way of looking at the world is in itself detrimental. If you think you are powerless, you are, as the lockdown years themselves showed us. Was my standing in the street alongside fifty other nutjobs doing us any good? Not really, but at least it gave us the illusion of having a say, and perhaps you could argue that contributed to our mental wellbeing.
With so much in life, we agree that mentality is key. When someone falls ill, we focus on encouraging them, on them holding the belief that they can beat the disease.
So then, does politics work the same? Am I doing myself a disservice by staying home? And not just to me, but to the future. After all, we need a bed of citizens who believe, in some form or another, to bring about new ideas. A rebirth. If we all gave up tomorrow, would that cripple the rebirth we secretly hope for?
The future is made up of individuals. So for an individual like myself, is a faulted, corrupt nation better than no nation at all? Certainly. There is, after all, great value in identifying with your tribe leaders to an extent. And while we have the option to detach ourselves from all that, to not know, is that harming our sense of identity?
I don't think it matters, really. I don't think this nationalist guy is the greater evil, nor that his opposition is. I don't genuinely think either will bring about meaningful change to us, either way. Romania is, after all, a vassal state. But there is a (desperate) need for meaning in the 21st century and there is a certain value to involving yourself in the goings-on of your community. In other words, the lesser evil might be to vote randomly or even get my vote annulled, rather than detach completely.
To quote Mulder, I want to believe. But more importantly, I need to.
