By: Vančo K. Tegov
These days, all sorts of opinions and profound reflections are rolling across the public sphere, in the spirit of: “Well, what are we waiting for?” Will we allow our state, and everything tied to it, to slip, slide away, and finally “crash”? Or will it hit the hard ground of political and everyday reality and shatter into tiny pieces? It is not far from that.
The tiny cracks of the past are no longer cracks but wide‑open gaps through which political, financial, security, and other storms are pouring in – in fact, a hurricane‑like vortex that can grind us down and carry us far into the universe of misguided decisions and missed opportunities for rescue and redemption. A vortex we call Slovenian politics, on which all of us depend on this once‑promising piece of land that, for now, still resembles Slovenia. For now. The only question is: for how long?
Are we even a state, or merely a “state”?
The question “Are we even a state or just a ‘state’?” has long been one of the most popular rhetorical blows in our country – and not by accident. It appears whenever it seems that the state is not acting in the interest of its citizens, but in the interest of someone else: Brussels, interest groups, party networks, the deep state, or simply because of its own weakness and indecision. This raises yet another, not merely rhetorical, question: how much of this functioning apparatus or system we call the state still operates intentionally, and how much simply runs on inertia, by itself? Are we already running on “reserve,” to use a motoring metaphor, or have we switched to backup power – into a state of hibernation – until we burn through the last remnants of energy and then fall into free fall?
What leads us to think this way?
It is a symptom of a deeper feeling that the state sometimes functions merely as an administrative apparatus or a tool that has been undermined or stolen for the pursuit of foreign or private interests, rather than as a sovereign instrument of the Slovenian people. We are a state mostly in shell, not in substance. Whether any state is truly our state depends on us. If we settle for the thought “as long as it is not worse,” we will increasingly become a “state” in quotation marks. But if we demand of politicians – and of ourselves – that they act as the owners of this state and not as its tenants, then we can become a truly sovereign republic. Unfortunately, due to the powerlessness and lack of reflection among citizens, tested every four years, it increasingly happens that the “chosen ones” – mainly with the support of the less prudent part of the electorate – grant the license to run the state to those who behave like bad, often even thieving and malicious tenants. This situation is further worsened by widespread defeatism and the absence of a will to have real influence over one’s own life, something that in our political, legal, and economic vocabulary is often called a captured state – without quotation marks.
The state of ethics and integrity in society is, by many assessments, so poor that we can truly speak of a captured state. And also, of a disabled or non-functioning state. The extent of corruption in society, especially in state institutions, is so great that there exists a circle of people who control key transactions according to the principle of “favour for favour, money for favour.” And then they wash their hands of it, Pilate‑style, as if they had done the cleanest thing. The spread of corruption, like a carcinoma in the economic and political tissue of society, does not suggest a benign growth that can simply be flicked away, but a deep, intense, and almost uncontrollable metastasised condition throughout the entire body of Slovenian authority. This, my dear ones, does not give us hope that an open and long-lasting debate on how to confront this will be possible. There will be no gentle, almost caressing persuasion of the “creators” of this corrupt, destructive, and ruinous conduct that harms society as a whole.
The remedy exists, and so does the diagnosis. What now?
Yes, the diagnosis has been made – and the remedy is not a single magic pill, but a systematic therapy that we, the citizens, must carry out. Returning the state to its citizens means moving from passive voting every four years to active ownership of the system. It means that the will expressed by voters in elections is genuinely respected – and not as it is now, when the polling stations close, the votes are counted (or, according to some, manipulated), and then there is no longer any real possibility of insight into the situation.
What is crucial, urgent, and unavoidable today is that action be taken immediately. Action that is frontal, systemic, without selective treatment of violations, violators, accomplices, and all who have contributed to the dismantling of the foundations of society. This must not be a society in which you are caught with your hand almost up to the elbow in the jam jar, and then, in a mafia‑like manner, you twist it to your advantage, invent a story, and cast yourself as the victim. Society must place such deceitful “bakers” on the pillory. And the worst offenders must be punished seriously – not with a metaphorical dunking in the Ljubljanica, but with a consistent legal system.
In other words: we need a government and authorities that will undertake a systematic “cleansing” action of society, without fear of the consequences for their own safety, survival, and dignity. Those who manage this – who first pull themselves together and resolutely set about putting things in order – will deserve a monument, not only in Ljubljana but in many places across Slovenia.
I hold hope, you hold it too, and we can all hold it. Because it is the foundation of the well‑being and dignity of all citizens.