What do the Poles Think about the Polish Politicians?

It is a fact that in no country its citizens have high opinion about their politicians. The Poles are thus in great company. On the other hand, the degree of contempt that the Poles display towards their elected leaders in unmatched.

There is a reason for it, though: If you happen to be watching the weekly Polish news supplied by the Polish television to the rest of the world, you will soon notice that two subjects dominate the news: the politicians and the corruption in an eclectic mix.

The fall of the old corrupt regime has created, unfortunately, a perfect opportunity for a new, as it seems, even more corrupt regime to rise, only nowadays the stakes are higher. After all, the Poles now deal in a currency that has a real value. The shelves are filled with attractive products, new, shining Toyotas and BMWs waiting for the rich buyer. The situation is similar in the former USSR and its other satellites.

It seems to be a universal rule that the poorer the country, the higher probability of politicians taking advantage of the situation. After all, it they rule the country, it is no more than right that they reward themselves, they reason.

And then there is the old boy's club helping their chums when in trouble. A famous example is the quite recent pardoning by the former President Mr. Kwasniewski of a former minister that tipped off the Polish mafia about a coming police raid.

A week or so before leaving the office, Mr. Kwasniewski decided to pardon the poor man sentenced to a few years in jail. Isn't it nice to see this kind of loyalty? And isn't it a true Christian virtue to forgive?

The only trouble is that Mr. Kwasniewski, as a former communist, is hardly likely to read the Bible for breakfast. There must be some other motivation at play, the Poles reason.

There is an ongoing discussion on one Polish website aptly named: "Polish politicians, cheats, thieves, liars", which gives one a good idea about the general feeling between the ordinary Poles in this regard.

The best proof of the deep disenchantment with the politicians was the recent election in 2005, in which only 40% of Poles took part. Whether they realized it or not, by staying home, abstaining from visiting the voting booth, the absentees still voted against the current democratic system and the politicians at the helmet. No one stays at home, unless he or she feels their vote does not count. Thus, no more than 7 million Poles out of over 40 million chose the government in power.

As a result, a minority rules the majority, which is exactly the opposite how a true democracy should work. The politicians don't care, as long as they get elected and enjoy the power and the financial benefits. And why would they?

"The Poles are a nation of idiots," the former Polish dictator, Jozef Pilsudski used to say and you can not help but wonder" When 60% does not find it worthwhile to get their butts off the couch and vote for a change. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot.

On the other hand one cannot but wonder what brings about this kind of lethal apathy. What kind of society brings up people that passive and that disillusioned, seemingly positively convinced, that nothing they do can change the situation for the better. Better roll with it"

The disrespect for politicians is sadly reflected in the seldom flattering aliases they are assigned. In particular, two Polish leading politicians were singled out; Andrzej Lepper and Maciej Giertych both were given the denigrating title of "kretyn," which can be freely translated as nit-wit. Still, at least some people vote for them. One anynonymous voice feels it is not fair to single out those two particular gentlemen in this regard: "All of members of the parliament are nit-wits."

The (non) voting camp is not blind, they see if the people in power are incompetent. Jan, 18 says, "Although I am young and just beginning to be interested in politics, I feel like laughing when I see how they handle the funds given to us by the EU. How will they manage to spend 60 billion euro, when they didn't manage to spend the 12 billion euro received last year. An acquaintance of mine applied for funds three time and was turned down every time - by a Polish bureaucrat."

According to Andrzej, "PIS (the winning party of the election) already is looking for a way to break their election promises" and as a result, he adds, "I will never vote, politicians are cheats, the citizens are only needed during the election."

The democracy does not seem to be the Garden of Eden that the Poles hoped for in 1989 when the old regime fell apart. Janusz confirms, "I think that the whole 60% has had enough of what'd been happening to Poland in the last 15 years. Better go for a walk than spend time in a voting both to no avail."

Magda believes that non-voters are wrong: "Politicians will never become smarter or honest. It is up to us to choose those that are a little bit smarter and a little bit more honest. This is how democracy works."

Janusz disagrees: "I feel that no one should vote. Maybe then politicians will realize that they do not represent the nation and quit."

Andy's solution is different: "Everyone should leave a blank vote. That would be good!"

Marta states: "Politicians are thieves. We are not a poor country, but it is they that have the most money. We cannot dream about the residences like the politicians have. This is why people don't vote."

Jurek calls out: "Those that vote for the thieves should suffer under their rule," although he fails to explain why the ones that did not vote should also suffer.

It is depressing to delve into the Polish democracy, that turned out to be not the panacea for the country's problems Poles had hoped for, but instead proverbial fool's gold, too good to be true. It is first now that the Poles slowly come to realize that democracy is no magic pill. It does not bring an immediate improvement in circumstances by itself, but works more like a tool that takes long time to master and that, unfortunately, many countries never learn how to. Whether Poles will learn the ropes, remains to be seen. One thing is certain, the situation will not change for the better unless the Polish people get involved and take charge.

No, it`s you and your texts who are depressing.

And where do you take all of those Jans, Andrzejs, Januszs, Boleks, Loleks and Zdzichus, whom you always quote ?


Dude, the communism here has ended in 1989 ..and now we have 2006 ..and it`s not that we haven`t had democracy before. It`s slowly time for you as well for people like you to get over it.

It's true about the Polish corruption - but it's nothing new. I don't see any improvement in this matter in this century...

^^^ Well, you`re an American, you`re living in the US.. so what can you know about Polish corruption ?

I've lived in Poland for 20 years so I know a LOT...:)

Polish politicians suc k. Unfortunately, politicians from all other countries s uck too...:|

Well, I`m into politics since some time and I wouldn`t say that :)

I`m confident that the courrent government is going to deal with most of corruption in this country, though I don`t approve the deal that has been made with Lepper. That man has nothing to search in the government.

"I`m confident that the courrent government is going to deal with most of corruption in this country"

oh yeah... now I'm curious what'd you say TODAY....

It is NOT. There are higher democracy standards in Poland and due to our media considered the best in this part of Europe so much is presented to the public.

Merged: Are the Polish Media Objective about Politics and Politicians?

Polish journalists are seldom objective about anything and they make no exception for politics and politicians. Of course there is objective, professional journalism but the best places to seek it are the pages of Rzeczpospolita (the semi official economics based paper) and specialist and technical publications. Television journalism is much the same. Sadly this is not specific to Poland. The press lack of objectivity is generally combined with a very partisan antipathy toward any person, not having a university degree or group composed of such persons.

Polish journalism can also be regarded as crisis journalism. This is because Poles have a tendency to create a crisis where there is none, but among journalists this is exaggerated and constant. The reasons for this type of writing are numerous, but principally: Polish life from 1939 has been a succession of catastrophes and this is not yet over; the serious press, except for Rzeczpospolita, is ever closer to the gutter press; and then there is the educational caste group.

Poles have a somewhat Latin temperament, if there is a crisis - they bestir themselves, when there is no crisis, they do nothing to prevent the next one. In such a situation journalists are forced to magnify trivia and personalise issues in order to sell newspapers. It is said that in war - truth is the first casualty, in a circulation war - objective issue based journalism is discarded. Poland has been governed since 1989 by a bewildering kaleidoscope of party groupings, most of which are at least half based on the Soviet-serving Communists. These people and their parents created a culture where educational qualifications are paramount and actual competence is a secondary consideration. As this idea is difficult to defend, the educated caste defends it all the more desperately, for their own well-being and self-esteem depends upon it. Journalists seem to regard themselves as being the most intellectual and most highly educated of all and write accordingly. This leads to a blatant prejudice in favour of the two self-styled educated groupings and venomous denunciations of those regarded as illiterate and uncouth.

It is apparent that many journalists are reluctant to castigate a judge or prosecutor or educated parliamentarian for felony or embezzling public funds. Heaven help the offender if he is a politician of the people without a degree to flaunt, the press will hound him day and night for weeks.

Lamentably there is a marked lack of integrity in foreign and Polish politics, so the press is constantly distracted from the fundamental issues. Normal occurrences such as the annual procedure of the school leavers' final exams are always reported like the battle of Stalingrad. It is the same with the weather; if the temperature dips a couple of degrees there are cries of a great ice age.

As a nation of newspaper buyers we have a choice, to buy or not. However this dilemma is similar to that of the voter in a democracy. Does one vote for the party that is less corrupt and a little more competent than the others? Experience shows that one should because the fewer the voters the worse the politicians. Yet, is it reasonable to expect everyone to read about economic trends and new legislation?

Achilles Węgorz

Polish media are not much different from media of other countries. If they feature news from abroad, they just translate them from other sources. Some media do it more, others less correctly ("times is money," even with the cost of accuracy).

This seems to be a sad heritage of Eastern-Central-Europe that we can't just simply shake off. For example, the situation is much the same in Hungary (though I'd say it's worse). The media are almost totally under the control of the post-Communists. Instead of the late Soviet Union, they now serve the European Union. Not to mention the conquest of the Arabic countries by the US and Israel (soldiers were sent to fight in Afghanistan and Irak etc.). The current government have the media under control in nearly 100%. They try to oppress everything that does not speak in their favour. Journalists and news-channels are not in any way objective.

I doubt that we could ever shake off this ominous heritage in Eastern-Europe.

radio maria, may we say more....