I have seen it before –
people thoughtlessly renouncing their individual liberties upon the promise of
gaining a little collective security. I have seen it happening through the
corrupt ways of the government, the politicians, the welfare system, the
national single-payer healthcare system, the social security system and the
leviathan of debt that was created by all these governmental programs that were
supposed to promote and protect the wellbeing of the public. This country is
Greece. I grew up and lived there during the earlier part of my life. Now, I
see it witlessly dragging itself into the spiraling chasm of economic collapse
because it refused to release itself from the bounds of economic protectionism
and social nannyism.
The vast span of the
government’s power and control over the lives of the Greek people has fostered
a culture of corruption and irresponsibility throughout society. Nepotism is
rampant, accountability is non-existent and bribery is the name of the game. Need
an operation? The doctor from the state-run healthcare system will be
conspicuously busy until you convince him that handling your case could be
quite profitable. Want to have water, power and phone service installed in your
home? The bureaucrat from the respective state-run company will overlook your
application unless you refresh his memory with a friendly ‘gift’. Politicians
and government ministers, unsurprisingly, do not lack this characteristic
either. In effect, one cannot go about one’s daily business without
contributing to some bureaucrat’s personal ‘pocket padding fund’. Naturally,
this element of corruption does not cease to exist when it comes to the issue
of government contracts, nay, it is merely magnified and enlarged to match the
sums of money at stake. And that is not all, the worse aspect of this issue is
that since the government
is so large, employs approximately one third of all working
age adults, and directly affects the lives of the rest in countless different ways,
corruption has ‘trickled-down’ to the entire society.
Every Greek’s dream has
always been to get a job in the public sector where there is great security,
positions are permanent, two months of personal leave is provided, and the
retirement age up until recently was set at a mere 55. This unsustainable
laxity has created a class of dependent persons, who know nothing else but to
be parasites, living off of the government while producing nothing and being
paid to make the lives of others miserable. The rest of the people are no
better, they have lost any and all sense of personal initiative, they sit back
in a state of apathy and hope that the welfare state will provide them with
what they need. When one waits for one’s livelihood, one’s healthcare, one’s
education, and one’s housing to be provided by the state, one becomes a beggar,
one loses one’s dignity, one becomes subhuman, one never realizes one’s full
potential, and one will never open one’s wings to fly. One will always be a
servant in this unending circle of corruption, disillusionment and fear that
any form of dependency brings.
The consequences of all
this fiscal irresponsibility, and the colossal national debt that it spawns,
are vividly captured by the dire state that Greece is in currently. And what’s
more, Greece’s enormous government not only did not save, but in fact was the
cause of the nation’s destruction. This is the wise message that this little
country has to convey. Wouldn’t it be prudent for us to learn from the mistakes
of others, without committing them ourselves?
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