WHY MALTA VOTES LABOUR BUT I HAVE THE BLUEPRINT FOR THE NATIONALISTS

by a Blog Reader

Here is why Labour’s corruption (“ħniżrijiet”) may not do it in as the Nationalist Party continues to appeal to a non-existent constituency.

But before I elaborate further, let’s go to nearby Italy where in the North, people joyfully donate to public institutions such as universities and museums. Not so in the South. Down in the South, in Sicily, it’s the grift mentality that dominates the culture as Rome is regarded as a cow trickling down milk to the parched Sicilians. In the North, the public wealth belongs to all as pristine parks and public spaces enhance everyone’s quality of life. Not so in the South where it’s only what makes it past your front door, into your house, which counts. If the government slips ten euros under your door, it’s like the manna on your plate. On the other hand, what happens outside your home, such as the local public library wrapped in scaffolding for countless years, doesn’t matter much since it’s not your property. You have no say over what goes on inside a university or library.

Now think of the Maltese Islands and where they fit in this broad and over simplified portrayal of Italy. Are the Maltese more similar in their culture and reasoning to Milan and other places in the North? Or to the Sicilian cities and towns? The Maltese are Sicilians at heart. Our government ministers pillage millions from the public purse and then slip ten euros under your door before the election. What counts is the ten euros. The ten euros is solidly yours. Viva l-Labour. As for the millions they withheld for themselves, they were never yours since they weren’t within the confines of your home. So, corruption doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t.

This is where the Nationalist Party gets it wrong. It seeks to move minds and hearts by pointing to the financial scandals that plague society. These scandals occur outside our home. They aren’t relevant to the pragmatic mind that starts counting from the door inwards. These are someone else’s problems. Nationalists were no saints as their ministers stashed dubious money in Switzerland. Labour has taken crime to a new level, pocketing hundreds of millions instead. But what has happened to the cash slipping into our homes over the years? Has it been decreasing? No, not at all. Didn’t you see the lovely gift before the election when Santa mistook it all for the Christmas season?

While the Nationalist Party continues to appeal to the good people of Milan who are the exception rather than the rule in our dear Malta, Labour has the Sicilian pulse in its hands. Ten million for me the politician and five hundred for you the plebeian. You are the commoner. Be grateful. Your grandmother or great grandmother may not even have had a flush toilet. Be grateful for every morsel you get from my government which has the power to lock you up or fritter your life away as it did with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s. What did the Nationalists ever do for you before the election? They may have sent you a “vote for me” pamphlet but no cheque.

Rather than pointing out government fraud, the Nationalist Party should promise that if elected it will increase public service salaries by 50%, pensions by 40%. Bonuses will double. If Labour hands out five hundred Euros before the election, the Nationalist Party should promptly promise to triple it immediately after the election. Such is the voter’s state of mind and the nation’s runaway inflation that the Sicilian model is to be embraced rather than rejected. Pay Gordon enough for his econometric report and he’ll support the suggested model with twisted equations that nobody will understand, not even himself. Spread money like confetti and then, many years later, when Labour is back in government, let it face the music itself. In the meantime, the Maltese would enjoy decades under the Nationalist queen (no, not Metsola, not during her lifetime), the supreme leader of “tagħna lkoll.” And don’t you ever dare ask what she wore. “Masking tape,” if you insist.