Monday, April 8, 2019 - 10:04 Leo Olivero

The litmus test of any politician is how he/she manages to improve the life of society in a sustainable manner. Political greatness is not about the amount of votes or popular support one manages to garner in elections, but more about what one is capable of doing with the power one is trusted with. In other words, popular politicians do not necessarily make great politicians.

In fact, the greatest politicians are those who followed this quest for common good at great personal sacrifice. Think of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. Think about what made them great politicians. Then think then about what makes bad politicians, bad, it’s not that difficult, our own political history is dotted with a few!

Morality is not always bound by the confines of the law or politics. Something can be illegal and yet be morally correct. Conversely, something can be immoral and yet be perfectly legal. History is full with such instances. {we can also boast of a few examples as you will read}

Now doubt Gibraltar has had some excellent politicians, there’s a few about today. Although we have also been lumbered with some mediocre politicians, right down to some awful specimens who have demonstrated ‘boy scout politics of the dangerous kind!

Today, the Gibraltar political class is unfortunately made up of all three categories just highlighted. There’s nothing to be alarmed about there, look at the hopeless bunch presently in the UK parliament who are nothing short of pathetic. But because everything in Gibraltar is down to a smaller scale, issues like this tend to be magnified and awkwardly shows up a lot quicker like a sore thumb.

Time to Get Off the Moral High Ground!

Until-now, politics, including the people of Gibraltar themselves, have been happy to claim the moral high ground (MHG) which to an extent, has been effective but nowhere near enough.

In the latter sense, successive local administrations have encountered serious limitations in being effective and quick results on anything in relation to the Spanish dimension, and especially with an opponent like any Madrid government who does not think twice about sticking the knife in the ‘Gibraltar back’ like it did last week and introducing inhuman policies, as it has done for years, particularly regarding frontier queues, even when it effects their own nationals as it does daily.

The Militant Political Mind V The MHG Concept

I am of the more political militant mind who has had enough of the MHG political concept! believe me, there many countless others who think like me, but who do not have this media platform or character to say it…so this is for them as well!

In my opinion, the MHG concept has nothing to do with morals, well, for some it isn’t. The MHG for some people in Gibraltar is just one way of justifying the ‘ingrained apathy of doing nothing’ this is a dangerous mind-set that has developed in many parts of our community, particularly over recent years, but also regarding a number of social issues.

If the whole point and purpose of moral practice is action guidance in ways that promote survival-enhancing coordinative behaviour, it makes sense that we engage in the assertion that is categorical in pressing our moral views. Furthermore, if the typical manner in which people take a moral stance that categorically asserts that person’s moral views is respectful and is also prepared to give reasons for those moral convictions and expect others to do likewise, then I can understand the present political concept of taking the MHG:

‘But this is not the case, as we have constantly witnessed throughout the years with Spanish Governments, who literally care a ‘flying fxxk’ about their high political morality, never mind ours!