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So it shall be written
It’s a juicy time for pundits out there. Try as they might to feign boredom and blame it on the infantile tactics that were manifested via the billboard wars commentators cannot ignore that the pre-election has entered an interesting phase thanks in no small amount to the sudden injection of life caused by Dalligate.
Of pigs and men
Tonio Borg’s grill-non-grill allowed us to revisit the debate about liberalism, progressivism and values. The fact that we are on the cusp of a national election does not help most of the political parties (I say most because AD are quite at ease with calling a spade a spade). The final judgement seems to be unanimous – Malta’s political scene is not, and will not be in the foreseeable future, divided along progressive vs conservative lines. The conclusion can be reached primarily because of the fact that party fidelity has proven time and again strong enough to trump any need to remove the cobwebs of value-ambiguity that the PLPN seem to be quite happy to nurture.
That your average voter does not think in terms of progressive vs conservative is an issue that is further complicated by the current battle raging about the true meaning of being liberal. It is as though the “real liberals” and the “faux liberals” cannot co-exist because of what are being described as the “wrong motives” of the “faux liberals”. A case in point is the issue of Tonio Borg where the “faux liberals” where accused of imposing their opinions on the Commissioner designate. In our view both sides are “sinning” of excessive zeal. On the one hand the “faux liberals” did fail to fact-check and went for the jugular without any chance of success.
On the other hand the criticism that I have just mentioned fails to consider that the main test for Tonio Borg is whether he is capable of not letting his personal opinions (those of Dr Borg) interfere with his work (that of Commissioner Borg). It’s not an irrelevant question and the seven extra commitments that have been asked of him only go to show how important it is.
They had to get them in writing, the commitments, because as the old latin adage goes .. verba volant, scripta manent….
Liberals: those (very few) who have no, or very minor, allegiance to PNPL and who have a good track-record of writing about the liberal deficit/discourse on the island of cardinals. Examples: Michael Briguglio, Arnold Cassola, Raphael Vassallo, Matthew Vella, Jacques Zammit, Alex Vella Gera. These people can bring real political change if they ever channel their energy into a common project.
Faux liberals: those who may pander to liberal ideas (and may even indulge in mockery of easier targets) but whose main allegiance to PN or PL will always trump any other considerations when push comes to shove. Examples: Andrew Borg Cardona, Owen Bonnici and so on and so forth.
Folks who could have done their homework better with a bit of help: certain MEPs who presented weak, half-baked arguments during Borg’s hearing. A Maltese Green or Liberal MEP with a network of assistants and other helpers would have been an absolute asset in that scenario.