By: P. T.
Historian, publicist, and commentator Dr Stane Granda commented quite critically on the outcome of elections and referendums. As he says, we cannot talk about any victory here, more about a moral defeat without precedent in history.
“European elections have shown the dominance of Janša’s party, which won twice as many seats as the ruling party. Overall, the ratio between the left and right options is 5:4, which only indicates the deepening of the Slovenian political divide. We more or less expected this,” he said for Demokracija.
To attract more voters, the ruling coalition combined the elections with referendums on the possession and cultivation of cannabis, the introduction of preferential voting, and euthanasia – mercy killing. “Although the medical circles sharply opposed this, and the Church joined them, the government proposal received majority support. Not by much, but enough to be taken into account. Based on this outcome, the ruling party declares a victory over the opposition, which opposed this,” Granda believes, adding that the advisory status of the referendum changes nothing, nor does the fact that the vote shows the dominance of cities over the countryside, which has been a political reality for some time.
“Although it seems like an ideological victory over morality and faith, the outcome is likely mainly due to the fact that Slovenian healthcare is in ruins, that a sick person cannot get to a doctor and receive appropriate treatment. Even more! Elderly care is not only completely collapsing, but there is a very likely possibility that it will no longer exist in the future or will be financially inaccessible,” Granda warns. According to him, the vote mainly shows that Slovenians are afraid of illness and old age because they cannot hope for medical and humanitarian aid. “Slovenians are becoming afraid of old age and illness because there is no realistic hope for dignified human assistance! After all, also because the proponents of euthanasia have never condemned the post-war massacres, do not advocate for the burial of the martyrs exhumed in Kočevski Rog, do not condemn but support Slovenian totalitarian communism, which killed its compatriots without a shred of conscience until the end (!) of its existence, and no one was prosecuted for that.”
As he says, the abuse of euthanasia for political purposes is not only possible but highly probable. And on a large scale! “The government’s ‘victory’ in this light is actually its greatest defeat, a moral condemnation without precedent in history. People trust them so little that euthanasia is closer to them than hoping for the assistance for which they have paid all their lives. After two months of absence in the hospital and spa, which I mostly paid for myself from savings, I can say this with full responsibility based on numerous conversations with fellow sufferers. With the activities and measures of the responsible ministry, which is dismantling everything that has been done and planned so far, their despair can only justifiably deepen,” the critical Slovenian historian and publicist concludes.
Granda warns that we are witnessing ideological violence and incompetence, irresponsibility, before which many elderly see euthanasia as the only solution. “Mercy killing, which with the government or referendum proposal acquires the nature and content of mass killing of the helpless!! Is it a solution? Yes! When people will want to take care of their present and future themselves, not leave it in the hands of people who are not up to it and above all mentally capable!” Granda concludes his critical response.