Democracy: Italian Style

Definition of the Italian political system, metaphorically speaking:

You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

Italians take their politics seriously. So much so, that they often change governments on an annual basis. Last week, after 5 years of continuous service, Silvio Berlusconi was voted out of office. Romano Prodi was voted in, but he has to form a coalition of sorts, just to keep everybody happy and to keep the Left on the same political page.

Berlusconi, owner of Mediaset, a huge media empire, also owns a soccer team and half the judges in Italy. He makes Mussolini look like boy scout. Corruption, payoffs and bribes are a way of life for him and his Forza Italia political movement. For the people whose hands are being greased, the result was less than satisfactory. But for the rest of the people, Romano Prodi is their man of the hour. [Let’s hope his government lasts a whole lot longer]

Prodi’s politics are a little bland to the inexperienced eye, but he does have one thing going for him: he’s not Berlusconi. And that says more about the Italian electorate than the media will have you believe. Berlusconi was rude, difficult and a lousy manager of the economy. His government even changed the electoral rules last December in order to improve his chances in the recent election. He also sent Italian troops into Iraq and backed George W. Bush, the most hated man in Europe. Prodi, who defeated Berlusconi in 1996, couldn’t manage the impatient Communists and was voted out two years later. In 2006, he still has a lot to handle on the Left; we’ll just have to wait and see how effective he is this time.

How many cows does Professor Prodi have to sell to boost the economy and lower the debt?

Only the cows that want to come home.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.