Comment by Evgeniy Dainov:
"Deviant" (according to Aristotle) politicians, i.e. those who govern for their own good, consider their peoples evil, greedy and cowardly. And they offer them the corresponding policies, containing malice (directed against certain groups of the population or towards foreigners and foreign countries), greed (bribes for loyal followers) and threats.
"Correct" (again according to Aristotle) politicians, who try to govern for the common good, fear that their peoples are evil, greedy and cowardly. And they are afraid to propose those policies that would benefit the people if it turns out that they are not evil, greedy or cowardly.
Because of these ideas about their people, deviant politicians always overdo it, and regular politicians, as a rule, never fully unleash their potential for advancing the common good. We have many examples in both directions in recent months and years.
Trump is making the same mistake as Radev
Let's start with Rumen Radev. Obviously convinced that Bulgarians are evil and cowardly and do not want to become Europeans at all, he is trying in every way to adjust his political behavior to these hypothetical Bulgarians. Proposing a referendum against the euro on May 9, Europe Day, Radev was obviously hoping for some powerful eruption of the "silent majority", which in his mind is anti-European, retrograde and pro-Russian. This eruption did not take place, because there is no such majority. Instead of entering the big arena and, riding the people's anger, sweeping away the hateful parties, he found himself imprisoned in the midst of a tenth of the Bulgarian people.
Across the ocean, Donald Trump has been making the same mistake for four months now. Imagining that the American people hate foreigners, women and blacks, worship the rich, despise the poor, like dictators and fear power, Trump tried to build his policies precisely on these ideas. And he achieved the lowest levels of support in American history.
The American people did not turn out to be so evil as to rejoice in the arbitrary arrests imposed by Trump. They did not turn out to be so stupid as to rejoice in the cutting of their own social and medical benefits in order to have money for the billionaires. And he was not at all so cowardly as not to resist the arbitrariness imposed by the American president, who dreams of being a king (in the worst case scenario - the pope).
At the other extreme are democratic politicians in Europe and Bulgaria. In Europe, they avoid explaining things clearly to their citizens - for example, that mobilization and some inconveniences are necessary to stop the war that has started from the east towards the Old Continent. The reason: they are not completely convinced that they have citizens in front of them. They imagine that they are dealing with consumers who are only interested in the price of eggs. And they clip their own wings instead of spreading them for making truly great politics.
In Bulgaria, democratic politicians also avoid talking to their people, because they are afraid that they are stupid, evil and Russophile. And they also put a spoke in their own wheels, instead of engaging people in great goals for the good of all.
Look at Canada, look at Carney
Against this background, it is truly gratifying that positive examples are emerging. In Canada, which Trump wants to turn into a state of the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney did not imagine the people as evil, greedy, cowardly and pro-Trump. On the contrary, he calmly explained to them what the problem was (US policy) and what the solution was (achieving independence from the American economy and security systems) - and won the elections, reversing about a 20-percent lead over his political rivals. The same thing happened almost immediately in Australia. There, Labor also spoke to its people as if they were mature and responsible creatures and explained what was at stake. And they also won the elections, reversing the huge lead of their opponents.
There are peoples who, after generations of terror and lawlessness, become evil, greedy and cowardly. Where there has not been decades of terror, peoples are generally decent and reasonable beings. They can and should be spoken to not with shouts, jokes or haughty disregard, but moderately, reasonably and seriously.
Everyone is tired of political shows and political clowning. From now on, it will be precisely the politicians who look, talk, walk and look like Mark Carney who will be significant and effective.