The myth of Spain political parties

I believe that living outside of Spain for so many years has given me an advantage when looking at the country. Eventhough I’m a spaniard, and very much so, I can look at it as an outsider.

There are many myths in Spain when talking politics or behaviour. For instance, recently on a conference talking about the political situation in Venezuela, they said something in this line comparing it with my country: “in Spain it’s easy to identify who belongs to a political party, ones wear polos shirts with the crocodile logo and the others don’t”. This is as close to reality as another myth: if you wear a spanish flag or flag colors on your outfit, you are a “facha” and support Franco. This is used a lot to go against PP and support PSOE. In the mind of millions of people in Spain, polo shirt stands for rich and preppy (pijos) who also think that are better than the rest. Supporters of Franco were supported of a dictator who abolished freedom of speech and is responsible for many crimes. So for the PSOE political party to be able to engrave these ideas into people’s mind, it’s wonderful business: you are either humble, poor and open minded like us, or you are a PPero, old fashioned rich-feel-superior-person who supported Franco and would oppress our ideas.

But now let’s go to the reality. If you are from Spain, and agreed with the above stop for a sec and think about it.

This is me: I believe religion and state should be completely separated. I’m pro gay marriage. I don’t think the government should have any saying on who you choose to marry or support one particular religion in any way. I’m also pro abortion, in the sense that I don’t want 15yo kids to go around aborting like crazy but that the government should allow for each adult person to make that choice. I’m also a big supporter of social benefits and universal healthcare. I lack fashion style and dress with whatever is not in need of too much ironing. Polos fit this description nicely. I’m also a supported of immigration laws that allow for foreigners to come into Spain and retain talent in here. The only conservative thing about me it’s family values and cloth. Just by looking at this you would clearly think I’m a PSOE supported. On all that myth, probably the only way you would know I don’t support PSOE is because I was able to save money and I’m incredibly proud of my country. I put the Spanish flag anywhere I please eventhough I don’t support or ever supported Franco, in fact, at 35 I was born when Franco was already dead! So to those 20s something saying that putting a spanish flag on your car is pro Franco… well, get a brain and stop parroting your grandpas please. By definition, most of my ideology would go towards PSOE if what they stood for was really what they said. You would think I’m an exception but I can guarantee you that I’m not. Most people with these PSOE ideas would vote for PP.

On the other hand, most PSOE supporters I meet, are big against immigration, they want foreigners out. Many are also very religious, against abortion and very very very old fashioned on many ways. They call themselves “progres” but in theory, they should be voting PP, the conservative party.

There is clearly a disconnect.

Going back to the Venezuela conference, the guy nailed it. In Venezuela your ideas doesn’t matter when you vote, the population vote is based on a simple fact: how much you love or hate Chavez. You would vote any party based on that fact.

Spain is not so different. Most of us vote a political party not because we like them or because you feel progre or conservative, leftish or right, in fact, when asked most people won’t even know the difference between one or the other. In Spain, although many themselves think so, we don’t vote for the party representing our ideals. We vote depending on how much we hate the other party. We don’t vote PP because they match our beliefs, love their team or Rajoy. We vote PP because it’s the only other party that can win against PSOE. If you vote PSOE, most likely it’s because you hate PP, even if their campaign nails down all your ideas.

And that’s the way it is for most people.

Me particularly? I don’t belong to any particular party. I’m voting PP because I think PSOE had 8 years to try and do what they had to and they proved to be completely incompetent at the job. I can’t vote for a party that was full of sh*t and didn’t achieve half of what they promised. You can’t promote social benefits just by throwing sacks of money and more money (our money) and bringing the country close to bankruptcy while giving many people a free ride. There has to be a balance, and for me, that’s probably the main advantage of voting PP or PSOE every so often, so that none can be on power too long. I’m ready for a new team.