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Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Top-Heavy Italian Republic

The financial woes of the Italian Republic are now, thanks to the E.U. and global finance, a matter of international concern. It is a crisis that has been a long time in coming and definitely puts the lie to those who claim that monarchy is financially burdensome while a republic is some sort of bargain. Surely, in economic terms, there is no greater example than modern Italy of what a poor return on public money a republic can be. That the monarchy was inordinately expensive is an argument only the foolish or truly ignorant could ever accept. Why is that? Because, one could certainly point to the grandeur of the royal residences, the glittering pomp and ceremony and the splendor of royal progresses to make the ignorant believe that the monarchy must have been a huge drain on the public purse. However, most of this came from the private accounts of the House of Savoy from money raised by their own properties and not from the public trough. Even then, in times of economic hardship, the King of Italy drastically renounced his income, cut back expenses and handed over valuable and extensive properties to the state. Has any of his republican successors done likewise? Certainly not and quite the contrary in fact. What has been done is to replace the monarchy with one of the most expensive and top-heavy republics in the world.


How many people, in or outside of Italy, are truly aware of this? How many of those who have loaned money to the safekeeping of the free-spending republican politicians are aware of this? How many are aware that the Italian Chamber of Deputies actually has far more members than the House of Representatives in the United States (which, for those unfamiliar with geography) is very many times larger than the Italian Republic? Not only is the government bigger, which means that there are more politicians to pay, but they are paid quite a few times more than their American counterparts as well (and rest assured that American Congressmen are in no danger of going hungry). In fact, Italian politicians are amongst the most highly paid and lavishly compensated in the entire world! So, what do Italians today have to administer their country? A republican government that is bigger than most, more expensive than most and more ineffctive than most as well. Bigger is not better and for as much as they cost the Italian taxpayer the government has clearly not provided value for money. Further, despite the promises of democratic republicans, they are by no means more accountable. When the people vote to cut the pay of their politicians, their votes are ignored and, of course, presiding over it all now is Prime Minister Mario Monti, an EU financial bureaucrat who was never elected to any office in Italy ever!

In addition, the tax-and-spend policies of the republican government have been digging Italy into a deep financial pit for decades. It was under the socialist prime minister (no surprise there) Bettino Craxi that the Italian national debt rose to be greater than the entire gross national product of the country -and that was in the 1980's! Things have hardly improved since as the current state of affairs clearly demonstrates. Recently, the European Union mandated that Italy would have to give help in the bail-out of Spanish banks and loan money to Spain at 3% interest. However, due to the fact that Italy herself is quite broke, Italy will have to borrow money to give that loan at 7% interest! What sort of economic and mathematical idiot thought up that "brilliant" plan? With leaders like that, is it any wonder that Italy finds herself on the brink of economic ruin? Probably not, considering that even the largely ceremonial office of President is currently held by a former member of the Communist Party, an ideology not known for creating economic prosperity around the world to say the least.


Italy would be better off to rid themselves of the lot of these overpaid, under-performing members of the political class, restore the lire, restore the monarchy, trash the tangle of regulations that strangle growth and incentive, leave the EU and pursue again a policy of "sacred self-interest" in which only those policies are pursued which will be to the benefit of the Italian nation. As things stand now, the people are disenchanted with their government, over taxed, over regulated and rapidly growing frustrated and divided. No country or government is ever without fault and certainly the Kingdom of Italy was not free from error. However, the Kingdom of Italy was brought down by intrigue and betrayal at the end of a world war while the Italian Republic is being brought to its knees simply by corruption, idiotic policies and carelessness, all of which amount to "business as usual" in the realm of the republicans.

4 comments:

  1. As an Italian, I am embarrassed of my homeland. Since the installment of democracy in 1946, Italy has been a political, a social, and an economical mental disorder. To outsiders, it is easy to see the generalizations, as with any nation; however, it is much more complex that there is not enough space here to write about it. One must be born AND live here to fully comprehend what I am saying. Outsiders moving here to live here is not enough to understand. Italy has a very knotty history and that complexity explains our people, our culture, our language, and so forth. There is more than meets the eye and it is not easy to explain. Democrats and republicans say that a democratic or a republican form of government is less burdensome and less oppressive than a monarchical form of government. As Mr. MM observed very well, the hypocrisy of democracies and republics are entertaining. I like to compare democracies and republics to “get rich quick” scams. No doubt there are many problems with my homeland. The only solution to Italy's problem is to secede from the European Union, to abolish the republican form of government, and to reinstall the monarchical form of government. I am afraid that if my fellow Italians do not wake from their democrat and republican cesspits, as I did recently, then Italy will cease to exist as a people. There is beautiful history, culture, and language here and I would hate to see that end owing to continual plunder, principles of collectivism, and democratization.

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    1. The "get rich quick" scheme is a very apt description for democratic republics. Just like such scams, they promise the moon and stars and for a time can seem to work, even work very well in some cases, but eventually you cannot keep ahead of the creditors (social, moral or economic) and finally it all collapses. If the Italian people as a whole can be moved to shake off the shackles of internationalism and big government, I have no doubt that these people who once conquered the world could astound everyone again with their success.

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    2. The only thing giving me hope is the passionate monarchists educating and advocating the Italian people about the re-installment of the Kingdom of Italy. Naturally these monarchists are against a large, biased democrat and republican wall here. Additionally, the media and the academia emit fear, insults, and propaganda regarding the Kingdom of Italy and the House of Savoy. Yes, indeed, these monarchists have a big challenge, but they are winning ground ever gradually, especially in central and southern Italy where monarchist hearts remain strong. Il re ed il Regno d'Italia!

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  2. Growing up I was always taught that a republic is a government for the educated. Yet education has continued to show me that republicanism is an ill-fated dream, and monarchy is the only solid (albiet not infallible) system of government. Modern Italy is yet another brilliant example of this. Education does not form republics, demagogues do. Education teaches the people why listening to those demagogues is a bad idea, and why having a monarchy is among the best ideas out there.

    On a side note, I had earlier in this post mis-typed the word "republics" as "repuglics" which, though initially an accident, I feel could be a fitting nick name, as most republics are rather repugnant.

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