A conversation with a friend reminded me of a Polish phenomenon that affects the entire nation. If you drink something cold, you will die. If you apply a cold compress, you will die a painful death. If you so much as open a window when it's breezy, you will suffer severe health consequences. All these things are as if law here. In a restaurant, getting a glass of water with ice is akin to witnessing a miracle. One has to ask, and endure the quizzical looks and quirky smiles of the waiters.
There is a deeply entrenched opinion, probably passed down by generations of grandmothers, that all cold drinks cause instant pneumonia. I laughed at this, until I personally witnessed to what extent this psychological conviction affects everyone. My uncle once drank a cold soda that I had put in the fridge, because there was nothing else to drink. Within minutes he was coughing, and clearing his throat, and complaining that he just "caught" something. He proceeded to be sick for a few hours, and narrowly avoided a full-blown cold. No one in the country seems to want to accept that viruses cause colds, not cold drinks, and that those cold drinks don't directly cause infection. Even doctors here will say the same, and seem to come from a medical background completely different from what one encounters in the States.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Run-offs
So the Polish elections ended in the expected run-offs. No surprise there, since there was little hope of any one Presidential Candidate getting more than 50% of the vote. Now there are two, the leaders of the "liberal" and "conservative" parties, though the "conservative" reads better as the "status quo, with lots of small talk and diversionary policies avoiding the real issues" party. Its solution to the country's problems involve radical centralization of government, renationalization of industry, regaining government control over healthcare, and focusing people's attention on abortion, hand-outs to the poor (from funds that the country doesn't have), etc. There is a moderate movement in the country to mobilize the young, so that they go and vote, so that Kaczyński doesn't make it into office. If he does, he and his twin brother (leader of the party that won the most votes in congress) would basically lead the entire country. We might as well go back to a monarchy system, or straight to a Belorussian style dictatorship for what it would be worth.
What I have trouble understanding is why people would consider him, when it's clear from just looking at the man that he's a bastard. Beady little eyes in a fat, gluttonous face, a fake smile, and dishonesty in his look. And yet, the church, the elderly, and various other "less educated" as the media indicate based on polls, all are drawn to him, and think he'll be the best choice for the country. All I see is a return to the fat bastards who ran the country during the Commie era. Enough of that! We need to progress, not regress. These last 15 years have been very tough for Poland, but it's showing signs of progress, even significant ones, and a misstep now by the population will cause years of additional pain and some regression. Poland is one of the biggest nations in the EU, and as such can be a significant addition to the Union. It's hampered by its history, but that is changing, and this may later be seen as the biggest mistake the country made, if the "conservative" wins. The vote is this coming Sunday. I've already sent mail to everyone I know to go out and vote. I hope the current margin of victory that Tusk has remains. It's somewhere around 14%. Not ultra comfortable, but even 1% will be enough to win. Hell, even one vote will be enough to win. Keeping the fingers crossed!
What I have trouble understanding is why people would consider him, when it's clear from just looking at the man that he's a bastard. Beady little eyes in a fat, gluttonous face, a fake smile, and dishonesty in his look. And yet, the church, the elderly, and various other "less educated" as the media indicate based on polls, all are drawn to him, and think he'll be the best choice for the country. All I see is a return to the fat bastards who ran the country during the Commie era. Enough of that! We need to progress, not regress. These last 15 years have been very tough for Poland, but it's showing signs of progress, even significant ones, and a misstep now by the population will cause years of additional pain and some regression. Poland is one of the biggest nations in the EU, and as such can be a significant addition to the Union. It's hampered by its history, but that is changing, and this may later be seen as the biggest mistake the country made, if the "conservative" wins. The vote is this coming Sunday. I've already sent mail to everyone I know to go out and vote. I hope the current margin of victory that Tusk has remains. It's somewhere around 14%. Not ultra comfortable, but even 1% will be enough to win. Hell, even one vote will be enough to win. Keeping the fingers crossed!
Monday, October 03, 2005
Polish Government
I was amazed to find that there are no capitalist parties in Polish government. There are only various flavors of socialist, with the main difference being the extent of moral conservatism they represent. I spoke of Polish conservatism in an earlier post, so will omit those details here.
What's interesting is the manner in which government is elected, and how it works, or doesn't, in some cases.
For one thing, there is no electoral college concept, but there's no true democracy either. What happens is that each district creates a list of candidates, and places those candidates in order of importance for the party. When the population of the district votes, they vote for individual candidates, but in reality only vote for the party. The party then receives a number of seats in parliament corresponding to the percentage of the vote it received in the district. The seats are then allocated to the candidates on the list in list order. So, if you're canidate 24 on a list, and your party only gets 23 seats from the district, you're out of luck, and don't make it into parliament.
In theory this system has its merits, but it also leads to "list fixing", where the party allocates its most powerful members on various lists across the country, in order to ensure that they make it into Parliament. For example, Roman Giertych, the leader of the League of Polish Families party, placed himself as the number one entry on the Warsaw list of candidates from his party. This would ensure that he made it into parliament, as chances were that the party would receive at least one seat from the region (it turned out that Warsaw gave LPR barely one seat, and even that was in question until all the votes were counted, so Giertych almost didn't make it into government). What this leads to is a system where the candidates for a region don't really have anything to do with the region they're listed in, and often the voters know nothing about these candidates.
The Parliament is the most powerful entity in Polish government. It suggests and approves Laws, and carries out the bulk of government work. As a throw-back to times past, every member of Parliament automatically gets "diplomatic immunity" and cannot be prosecuted in any way, nor stopped and ticketed, etc. There is an ongoing debate to get rid of this archaism, but of course those who stand to be most affected are those who enjoy the benefits of such protection.
The party that wins the elections, or has the highest percentage of the vote, even if it's under the 50% clear majority, gets to decide who the Premier will be. The Premier is the individual who actually carries out the job of country head, and forms a cabinet, and takes care of day-to-day government affairs. There is also a President, elected in a separate public vote, but he is pretty much a figurehead, and can at most veto a law that is being pushed by the Parliament. (Even then, the law can get pushed through with a repeat vote, but I'm not sure if there is a percentage for vote required, or just a simple majority).
If a Party does not get a 50% majority of the vote, it has to form a coalition with other parties, in order to form a government. This leads to lots of wheeling and dealing after elections, as winning parties try to win over the fringe parties, in order to form a majority government. There are usually two big winners, and then a whole list of smaller players. (A party needs to get at least 5% of the public vote to get into government at all.)
What happens after elections is the source of frustration for everyone in the country. The government forms, then starts meeting, and then proceeds to waste time and energy on issues that don't fundamentally move the country forward, instead dealing with things that are either beneficial to a small percentage of the population, the government members among them, or get stuck on issues with an impasse, due to opposing views and lack of ability to compromise.
In the end, the government ends up doing very little, as many of the government members see it as their source of income and wealth, and as such will do what it takes to get there, even without the proper qualifications and preparation. You often hear these people speak publicly, and have to laugh, because they sound like complete morons.
What's interesting is the manner in which government is elected, and how it works, or doesn't, in some cases.
For one thing, there is no electoral college concept, but there's no true democracy either. What happens is that each district creates a list of candidates, and places those candidates in order of importance for the party. When the population of the district votes, they vote for individual candidates, but in reality only vote for the party. The party then receives a number of seats in parliament corresponding to the percentage of the vote it received in the district. The seats are then allocated to the candidates on the list in list order. So, if you're canidate 24 on a list, and your party only gets 23 seats from the district, you're out of luck, and don't make it into parliament.
In theory this system has its merits, but it also leads to "list fixing", where the party allocates its most powerful members on various lists across the country, in order to ensure that they make it into Parliament. For example, Roman Giertych, the leader of the League of Polish Families party, placed himself as the number one entry on the Warsaw list of candidates from his party. This would ensure that he made it into parliament, as chances were that the party would receive at least one seat from the region (it turned out that Warsaw gave LPR barely one seat, and even that was in question until all the votes were counted, so Giertych almost didn't make it into government). What this leads to is a system where the candidates for a region don't really have anything to do with the region they're listed in, and often the voters know nothing about these candidates.
The Parliament is the most powerful entity in Polish government. It suggests and approves Laws, and carries out the bulk of government work. As a throw-back to times past, every member of Parliament automatically gets "diplomatic immunity" and cannot be prosecuted in any way, nor stopped and ticketed, etc. There is an ongoing debate to get rid of this archaism, but of course those who stand to be most affected are those who enjoy the benefits of such protection.
The party that wins the elections, or has the highest percentage of the vote, even if it's under the 50% clear majority, gets to decide who the Premier will be. The Premier is the individual who actually carries out the job of country head, and forms a cabinet, and takes care of day-to-day government affairs. There is also a President, elected in a separate public vote, but he is pretty much a figurehead, and can at most veto a law that is being pushed by the Parliament. (Even then, the law can get pushed through with a repeat vote, but I'm not sure if there is a percentage for vote required, or just a simple majority).
If a Party does not get a 50% majority of the vote, it has to form a coalition with other parties, in order to form a government. This leads to lots of wheeling and dealing after elections, as winning parties try to win over the fringe parties, in order to form a majority government. There are usually two big winners, and then a whole list of smaller players. (A party needs to get at least 5% of the public vote to get into government at all.)
What happens after elections is the source of frustration for everyone in the country. The government forms, then starts meeting, and then proceeds to waste time and energy on issues that don't fundamentally move the country forward, instead dealing with things that are either beneficial to a small percentage of the population, the government members among them, or get stuck on issues with an impasse, due to opposing views and lack of ability to compromise.
In the end, the government ends up doing very little, as many of the government members see it as their source of income and wealth, and as such will do what it takes to get there, even without the proper qualifications and preparation. You often hear these people speak publicly, and have to laugh, because they sound like complete morons.
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