Pomp Without the Glory

In this week’s Camino a Ítaca we travel to the British Iles to see what we can learn from recent events there. Click over to read the original Spanish version in el HOY or read the English translation below. (PDF abajo) 

The island nation that
gifted the world things like trains, the internet, parliamentary democracy and
David Attenborough has fallen on hard times. Like a once respected member of
society who unfortunately gets hooked on heroin, it is now a mere shadow of its
former self. Come to think of it, when was the last time anyone looked to the United
Kingdom as some sort of example to follow?

The once proud empire’s
slow decline into irrelevance had been going on for so long that no one really
noticed that it was completely under water until it was far too late. The UK
public spent so much time watching endless reruns of their victories in the
great wars, that they forgot to acknowledge that it was in fact their bastard
son that saved them from their German nemesis: twice. Like some sort of
bankrupt aristocrat, it had been living and borrowing on a reputation that had
long ago cashed its last good check. The country that gave the world Cheddar
cheese and the Beatles, now flogs Coldplay and anodyne marmalade sandwiches.

This death foretold exponentially
picked up speed when a group of selfish narcissists handed Germany the victory it
once sought without even having to lift a finger, let alone firing a shot. This
cabal of greedy Oxford-educated sociopaths somehow duped the nation into swallowing
the blue pill of neoliberal fiction that saw them voluntarily leave the world’s
largest trading block. A monumental blunder taken under the aegis it would
somehow be good for the general public, rather than simply benefiting a small
group of rich businessmen who were merely looking to get rid of inconvenient EU
regulations.

What did the British
public end up with? First, a cheap Trump impersonator who never learned how to
use a comb. nor follow his own pandemic laws. An incorrigible shyster who reveled
in repealing EU environmental regulations that allowed raw sewage to be dumped
onto beaches around the country. Thus, making the metaphor literal, giving industry
the right to shit on its citizens.

Then came his replacement,
Truss the brief (en un tris Truss). A clueless fake whose first bold move was
to reduce taxes on the rich to such an extent that even the market couldn’t
accept the yawning hole this would leave in the country’s budget.

The result? The pound went
into a free fall and the economy almost collapsed.

But if you look closer,
perhaps this nearly failed state can offer us some insight. If there is
something that you can learn from a bad example, it is what not to do.

The Trump imitators here
in Spain offer the same snake oil. They may know how to comb their hair, but
the siren song coming out of the Puerta del Sol of lowering taxes only serves
to make the rich richer while helping to speed the looming death of the welfare
state. Their proposed tax cuts would actually help them afford more private
healthcare coverage, while at the same time making your wait for a simple
operation longer and longer.

The British have offered
valuable lessons before and they still can. We simply need to be discerning
enough to learn from them.