In some ways, this is a phantom crisis for ordinary Spaniards. There has been no United States-style government shutdown. There are no mounds of uncollected garbage, no unpaid police officers, no shuttered ministries, no public trains or buses halted. Surprisingly, things are working as well as can be expected considering. We can assume when a system is in place it will continue to function without outside governmental interference. We can be sure there are some instances of skullduggery, but that is for the courts to decide upon. None the less Spain is proving that less can lead to more.
For the past 288 days, Spain has plodded along without an elected national government. For some Spaniards, this is a wonderful thing. “No government, no thieves,” said Félix Pastor, a language teacher who, like many voters, is fed up with the corruption and scandals that tarnished the two previous governing parties.
“Spain would be just fine if we got rid of most of the politicians and three-fourths of government employees,” Rafael Navarro, 71, said inside his tiny storefront pharmacy in Madrid. Too little government is better than too much, he said. Haven’t we been preaching this for some time? We are under a governmental yoke that rules by fear. None of us can do anything singularly, but maybe as a whole it can be accomplished. But as our 2 Party system pits us against one another, we will not unify to a just result for all. What do you think?