The political drama of the Bulgarians in the last 150 years is rooted in their orientation and the lack of a real political force that adequately reflects this orientation. In general (understand 80%) Bulgarians are a left conservative people. They (because I'm not a left-wing conservative) want a strong state that enforces clear and strict regulations, controls prices, provides free health and welfare, provides centralized and unified education, and protects the "little man" by the evil capitalist thugs who want to exploit the slaves for their own gain.
This commented on "Facebook" Alexander Stoyanov.
At the same time, the Bulgarian in general is an admirer of traditions, the patriarchal spirit, the clear hierarchization of social roles in which women know their place, and the young listen to and respect the elderly.
Communism has largely obliterated the Orthodox side of this conservatism,
but it has replaced classical religiosity with a substitute made up of the scraps of a destroyed revival piety stuck together with the dogmas of 1970s labor conservatism.
However, this is not new in the worldview of our people. Bulgarians have been largely left-conservative since the middle of the 19th century, and this is clearly visible in the political and social elite that was built after the Crimean War and around the Constituent Assembly (1879)
Where's the drama then? The drama is that the political elite in Bulgaria has never fully shared all the values that drive the majority of our people. Between 1881 and 1919, parties ruled that were much more center or right-wing compared to the attitudes of the people.
BZNS in 1920 seems to be the closest to meeting all the demands of the hard-pressed peasant masses, but the apparatus of army, police and political opposition formed from the previous period is too strong to allow a dictatorship of the village above the city.
Subsequently, the BKP tried to meet the demands of the Bulgarians for left-wing conservatism, but also failed, even though the comrades slaughtered and hanged in the state (literally). The reason for this is the innate Bulgarian individualism and skepticism towards state repression - a paradoxical side of our mentality, characteristic rather of libertarians than of any left-wing person. The clue here is the Ottoman rule, which raised Bulgarians in a sense of alienation from the state.
I.e. we both want the state to be strong and take care of us, and we don't want it to punish us - lots of carrots and no stick.
After 1989, an adequate left-conservative party was never created in Bulgaria,
which would mobilize the huge, latent potential for the rise of such an ideology in our country. The BSP has completely failed in its attempt to be such a party, as have all the "flakes" that split off from it.
Today, the desire of Bulgarians for left-wing conservatism, seduced and abandoned so often for a century, seeks salvation in the demagoguery and populism of politically unoriented and economically marginal parties that wave empty slogans that are cool clickbait, but nothing more.
Following these demagogues, the Bulgarian left-wing conservatives from the broad masses of the people will once again remain disappointed and distrustful, as well as with the feeling of an increasingly serious impasse.
What is the alternative for these people?
The emergence of a political force with clear goals, ideas and priorities, which in principle follows the true left-conservative ideas that Bulgarians are looking for. Alas, there is no indication that such a political force will emerge in the foreseeable future.