Sever Voinescu, Dilemma: Conservative? Me too!

There are two kinds of political opportunism in the world: one dramatic and the other comic. This does not mean that one is more justified than the other; morally, both are judged the same and it only depends on the judge, depending on how intransigent or indulgent they are, what they consider acceptable and what not. Dramatic political opportunism is produced by serious circumstances. For example, the opportunism of old anti-communists who became communists after 1944 or of former communists who became anti-communists after 1990 are cases of this type. This kind of opportunism is generally not just tactical, but also strategic in the sense that the stakes of this reorientation are long-term. But there is also comic opportunism, which is exclusively tactical, superficial and does not value more than a maneuver from a series of past and future maneuvers. This is the case of politicians and parties that change course based on what they perceive to be a certain momentary electoral trend. We have lived through many such changes in recent years: we have seen socialists become liberals, we have seen anti-Westerners become Europhiles and then Trumpists, we have seen liberals become conservatives, but also socialists who became conservatives only to revert to being socialists, with a passage through Guevarist nihilism. There is a big difference – so big that it is felt immediately – between, let’s say, a twist after the Pauline model, coming after a moment or after a process of clarification, or even a reversal determined by the fear of losing everything, even life, on one hand, and the tumbles of circus dwarfs, on the other.

If Romanian life were not so stressful, it would be laughable the latest tumble of this kind that is being prepared for us. Brutally expelled from the bed of a decades-long affair by an increasingly "conservative" PSD, before they hit the ground, PNL decides that it is no longer social-liberal, as in the first ten years of love with PSD, it is no longer that ideological mishmash from the last ten years, but becomes a serious "conservative" party, as per the Conservative manual in 10 steps, with leaders who marvel in front of cameras and articulate pompous words like "roots" and "purpose". In the end, it’s their business and those who will believe them.

What I notice, however, is that the ideological change anticipated by PNL brings almost unanimous support to the list of conservatives in Parliament. And that is truly comic! How did they all turn towards "conservatism" in the last 5-7 years, when 15 years ago they raised skeptical eyebrows at the sound of the word? Since the electoral success of the "sovereignists" and the glory of Trumpism, everyone has become conservative! Thus, in Romania, we count in Parliament the following parties that claim, openly or more shyly, to be conservative: AUR, PSD, PNL, SOS, POT and Ponta's group, I no longer know what it is called. If we also take into account the "conservatives" from UDMR, it turns out that 80% of our parliamentarians represent conservative beliefs. The only ones who remain in the established category are USR – they remain progressive and, I believe, enjoy a monopoly over this electoral segment. Interesting, isn’t it?

What will follow, predictably, will be the propaganda battle for the "true" conservatism. Messrs. Simion, Grindeanu, Bolojan and Ponta will compete for the title of "the true conservative" of the nation and will delight: "Romanian observer, who is the truest conservative?". And since the people are a collective character that speaks through the mouth of an elected representative, the decision will be delivered, with his sapiential-pathological air, Călin Georgescu.

Now, putting the joke aside, it really deserves to ask ourselves: how did the so-called "conservative" current become so attractive for our politicians? But, before trying to give this answer, I think it’s good to see what conservatism actually means for the Romanian politician who, in principle, is not in any way. It is what is required or what he believes is good to be in order to get another mandate. Under these conditions, being a conservative in Romania means displaying a composite of tricolor, Church, traditional family, traditions and holidays, it means sending all signals that "you are with the country". That is, to wear the traditional shirt on your holiday, tricolor on the day of the tricolor, to wear a Romanian shirt when you go to Oaș, the national football team shirt when you go to a match, to write on Facebook "Happy Birthday, Romania!" on December 1st, to often say the words Romania and Romanians, to be pious when it comes to Eminescu, to puff your chest when it comes to Brâncuși and to become angry (that is, to bark loudly) when someone says something about the nation and the country. In general, for us, conservative equates to patriot and traditionalist, who quickly fall into xenophobia and modernophobia.

In reality, conservatism means something entirely different. Conservatism is not an ideology, it is not a political program to which you adhere or not. Conservatism is a way of being in the world. To be a conservative politician, you must first be a person of such a kind. To be conservative means, in fact, to have a certain human nature – more precisely, the changing part of human nature, which is found in all of us, must spontaneously produce certain reactions to the stimuli of the world. To be conservative is not a volitional process nor even rational – both will and reason consolidate a certain way of being and seeing the world, of believing in the meaning of life, of understanding the purpose of things on earth. Therefore, it means that it is impossible to have been anything other than conservative before. You cannot have been until today, at the time of any vote in Parliament, a socialist, radical anti-system, liberal or centrist-technocrat or simply nothing, waiting to become something, and then become, from tomorrow morning, conservative. Simply put, it cannot be done! That is why I invite you to view the spectacle of the political rush under the conservative flag as a comedy and nothing more. A boulevard comedy, with farces and quiproquos. It will pass and everyone will quickly troop under another flag, as it seems to them that the wind of electoral whim is blowing.

https://www.dilema.ro/tilc-show/conservator-me-too