MPs or people who have fun with politics?

I believe that the linear and intensive time of developments of this parliamentary mandate, which is now coming to an end, has been sufficient to draw some coherent conclusions, political and intellectual lessons. Not only to publicly evaluate the institutional and individual performance, but also for a review of the criteria, what has been and what should be the “vertical and horizontal” typology of deputies, as representatives of the people in the Albanian Parliament. Now that we are almost on the verge of new elections, not only political parties and decision-making leadership, but also citizens (not simply as voters, but as electors), have the right to express their opinion on the institutional qualities of this mandate and the individual performance of each deputy. It is time to nominally distinguish the parliamentary performance of deputies, whether as a “social group” or individual political and cultural stature. Citizens have expressed their observations and dissatisfaction with the level of political engagement and their public responsibility both publicly, in formal public and media channels, but especially in informal ways, in numerous debates in urban and private life environments.

In these conditions, it is natural, expected to hope that there will be a fundamental reflection, not on the election, but on the qualitative selection of new deputies. Let us hope for a new “measure” of the selection of deputies, assessing human, social, humane and intellectual qualities, whether in terms of individual “vertical” authority or “horizontal” quality, which is related to the qualitative structuring of the respective political groups. But, this is not done, cannot happen, if we have not learned lessons, more precisely, if the party leaderships have not changed the “axiology” of the political concept that assesses the necessary values ​​of the deputy. Not simply and only as a militant, but first and foremost as a “homo politicus”, while at the same time “blocking” the typology of the apathetic, “politically blinded”, “accidental” deputy. During this mandate, it has been structured by a group of "vegetative" deputies, who have been paid as part of the formal structure or simply as "militant cardboard".

It is time that requires a modern conception of politics in general and of MPs as “actors” who interpret and implement it. Because in the selection of MPs, whether on “closed” or “open” lists, the universal truth must be taken into consideration, that politics is not a “game for fools”, nor a “means for vain pleasure” of people who did not “fit the political costume”. Politics is something serious, not “absurd theatre”, which is simply in the hands of “directors” who randomly assign “actors”.

If political parties have not learned lessons from the insufficient quality of some of the current MPs, then this means that politics has not felt the "sound of time", does not accept to reflect, to cure this pathology that is not formal, but with social, political and financial costs. Citizens have time and again openly expressed their dissatisfaction, with many parliamentarians identified as incompetent, formal, quarrelsome, without ideas, with truncated culture. They should not only leave the next Parliament, but in an intransigent way the path must be closed to the cunning and opportunistic penetration strategies, not only of the existing MPs, but also of the "intruders" similar to them.

We need a new way of thinking in the selection of deputies for the next term. But for this to happen, it is essential to change the old tradition of their selection. It is not enough to evaluate only militant determination, or the bravura of "political stoicism", if the deputy lacks those qualities, qualities and political and human virtues, which are necessary prerequisites for the individual stature, the format of the special personality of the deputy, as a condit sine qua non for having both militant commitment, but also the necessary independence, which stems from a coherent personality, personal knowledge, political culture, the ability to make intellectual judgments.

The problem is clearly posed: who will be the future deputies? What interests will be a priority for political parties in these elections: the interests of the voter or the desires, the subjective demands for personal privileges of the politically elected individual? Often times, there have been individuals on the lists of deputies who in public, intellectual and social life have been “nobodies”. For these types, even if they “penetrate” the lists and become deputies, this does not give them any social quota in the assessment of personality, remaining simply an “anonymity” that aims to become “distinguished” artificially, abusively and parasitically through an undeserved parliamentary mandate, hoping for a kind of “transient” political charisma. This is the goal. We discuss this problem, not as an end in itself, but because time, reality, and political sociology have proven many times with historical and current facts and arguments, that the problems of political life are inevitably linked to the quality of the politicians who do it.

It is certain. Now, after three and a half decades, we have a more reflective citizen, critical of the selection of the political class, aiming at the “board of directors” of politics, the state and society. Under these conditions, parties, before drafting “open” or “closed” lists, must be convinced that the electorate is “alert” and critical of the upcoming elections, and will certainly react individually, or as part of civil society, to the “quality of those who will be elected”. It is unacceptable for today’s culturally developed time to seek or elect politicians who are controversial social prototypes in public, deformed by time, unsuitable for the dialectics of postmodern politics. When political sociologists evaluate such situations, they rightly say that there is no consistent policy without making “political sacrifices”. Precisely those who do not justify the status of the politician

This year's elections are political and must definitely be evaluated politically. This means that the selection of future deputies must be done with new, more qualitative parameters, assessing the need for politicians and not ambitious individuals, or even selection under "pressure" and the simplistic logic of victory at all costs. I do not know how much political parties will be able to regulate the contradictory reports, the relationships of interests between the objective of victory in political elections in the face of demands, desires, pressures, manipulations, "personal solutions". President Obama has said that, for a politician, personal political ambition alone is not enough.

The claim for guaranteed quality of future MPs is imperative, because now is not the time for “classical politics” done by dogmatic politicians, but a “managerial way” of doing it is required. This requires a different typology of politicians. But this ability is not possessed by those who have only political loyalty and who display archaic, phony militancy, but by people who have capacities, knowledge, skills, who are culturally oriented. Politics as a rhetoric is out of date. Those who claim to be future MPs should carefully measure their strengths, because politics “emptied from within” is no longer valuable.

The term of office that is ending with this unsatisfactory political, electoral and cultural level is, sociologically, one of the undoubted indicators of the crisis of the political class. In the political, moral, social and cultural sense. This is one of the reasons why respect for politics and politicians has evidently decreased in Albanian society today. Perhaps it is necessary that those who were deputies, or those who aspire to occupy seats in Parliament, should have a critical look at the relationship between political demands and their personal ability. Things must be seen in their dialectical depth, of the connection between politics as a specific ontology related to the needs of our contexts, on the one hand, and the high level of interpretation by political actors, whether as professional politicians or deputies.

The time requires a new, more dynamic equation regarding the political people who are elected to Parliament or important institutions of public life. Today, it must be understood that Albanian society is in the most intense phase, when it needs not empirical politics without the necessary qualities, but “politics based on knowledge”. Politics is a public mission. Deputies are not elected for themselves, but for the general good. I believe that some of the current deputies know that, faced with the new criteria of political meritocracy, they are in “electoral question marks”. Be it those once identified as incompetent and parasitic, but also those “veiled” by the incessant enumeration of deputy mandates, once active and now with “limited charisma”, shaky legitimacy. Care must be taken when choosing candidates for deputies, because we must elect politicians and not “political puppets”. It is not even sufficient for people to simply have a university education, which is a "starting point" for becoming a politician, but something more is needed. Chancellor Kohl rightly said, "I consider it a serious mistake if someone without solid ground under their feet immediately enters politics" (Werner Maser, "Helmut Kohl", p. 68).

Time has shown that those who do not have the necessary intellectual skills and with it the necessary political culture, are unable to understand the intricacies, dialectics, natural strategies of this complicated political world. In these elections, politicians and people who have the right conception are needed, due to the fact that now Albania is in a new phase of development, when many things have changed. First of all, the “dynamics of politics”. We are in very important moments of European integration. In these conditions, the magnitude of the problems that preoccupy the country, society, economy, etc., is beyond the banal trifles of daily politics.

Recently, several new political parties have emerged on the Albanian political scene, led by a new generation of politicians, who have taken on the challenge and emerged as their leaders. Personally, I consider this event as a positive development for Albanian politics, which for a long time, even though small parties have existed, has always been almost “three polar”. I judge their competitive presence as a positive moment, as the arrival of a new stage of “open pluralism”. But, beyond enthusiasm, natural personal ambitions, to take a place in the polarized political arena (politics has this connection with passion) as well as a visible electoral support, I do not believe that we should start from age or from the misuse of the paradigm of the misused phrase of the “young politician”. In politics, age is not a determining factor simply as an argument to idolize young people. More than for young politicians, we need new, utilitarian alternatives, with a guarantee of success. It is not so easy to build new, convincing alternatives for the skeptical, militant, or disappointed citizen.

This means that it is time, in these elections, to put an end to the primitive idea, the vain desires of those who aim at politics not as a missionary, but simply for "individual narcissism", for appearance, as a means of public advertisement of their personality. There is no other place in Europe where there are so many people as here, who aim at politics not as a commitment, a responsibility, but as Ceslav Miloš says, "to have fun with its enviable pleasures".