In a land where chopping down trees to make way for roads and dumping construction waste at sea are actual, real things that happen, I don’t know why I was surprised when the Tourism Minister announced that part of the hefty taxes I pay to keep some single mother’s nails looking on point while she sits in the sun and births her fourth child with an ‘unknown’ father (I’m not saying this applies to everyone because God knows I go out of my way to help the actual, real needy, but I’ve also seen enough to know that what I’ve just said is not remotely unfair or untrue) was going to go towards double-glazing the windows of people’s houses in Birżebbuġa because of noise pollution.
Yes, feel free to read that last sentence again and then again. You and I are going to directly or indirectly be funding the double-glazing of people’s houses in Birżebbuġa. Apparently, we don’t need more books for the university library or new classrooms, rather than shipping containers, for our children.
Our HIV medication is up to date, our museums are full of priceless art and our public spaces are gleaming enough, and thank the universe, we have enough spare change to kit out other people’s windows. Maybe I should try my luck and send the ministry the bills for my windows. I mean, I don’t live in Birżebbuġa, but my screeching neighbour is definitely causing noise pollution and I would rather not hear her anymore.
Politicians are not minor deities sent to Earth to lead us out of the desert of discontent: they are paid through our taxes and are there to serve us
I’m not even going to ask if we’ve lost the plot because we’ve literally grabbed the entire script and turned it into those streamers they chuck out of balconies during village feasts. The news has become an orgy of bad jokes, but no one is laughing. The French may have had their Revolution, but over here, when our elected representatives brush us off and tell us to eat cake, we either look the other way or make a deal with them to have a share in their piece of pie.
There’s a reason why we don’t have an illustrious history of men giving up their lives for their country, and it’s usually because they were too busy minding their own business and protecting their own hinds. Rajt ma rajtx, smajt ma smajtx, and all that jazz.
What we need to understand once and for all is that politicians are not minor deities sent to Earth to lead us out of the desert of discontent: they are paid through our taxes, are there to serve us, and are elected for that purpose and that purpose alone.
If these people are no longer serving us or their purpose, then simply stop finding excuses for them and stop giving them your vote. This is not rocket science, it’s what is at the basis of democracy. Our actions or lack thereof are what teach politicians how they can treat us.