Governments and countries, like companies, need to tie their customers
The time of patriotism seems to be over, like the time of brand loyalty and household appliances that last 30 years. Like companies need to keep their customers and find new ones every day by offering competitive services and products, so do politicians and governments. Politicians traditionally tried very hard to get votes and once they got on the top of the country they tried to convince their citizens that the state of things was the best they could ever get. It’s not like they have a competitor, it’s not like their people are going to stop being citizens! Today it is not quite the same picture though. As European citizen, if I don’t like my country or the government, I move to a country or government that suits my needs better.
I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, it means that politicians need to realize how they can make their country attractive to smart, productive, creative people. If they do not, they will soon become poor and they will eventually regress. On the other hand, citizens may be less motivated to fight for their rights and they’d rather escape “the bad”, malfunctioning and/ or unattractive social, economical or political situation by flying to what they believe is better. Which is exactly what I did four years ago.
Also, I am not sure if politicians will realize this in time to turn to better perspectives. Instead, they are reacting with fear and panic and they seem to think that the solution resides in misinformation, brainwashing or restrictions.
I wrote down these reflections for myself and I planned for about a month to publish them on my blog. Yesterday I read this article (in Italian) that reflects more or less on the same issue (worth reading!). The title is “Here come the Italians with light feet”, and yes here they come, numerous and full of dreams, ideas and plans for the future. Future that their country does not seem to treasure.
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