Sometimes I am often asked if it is worth devoting myself to political life, and I usually say the following. I must have been working as a journalist for nearly 35 years. During this time I think I have met more than three or four hundred people who have developed some type of political activity, in institutions such as the Generalitat Valenciana, the Government or the Valencian Cortes, in the organic life of the parties and even in organizations of the European Union. Men and women from left-wing and right-wing forces, from ministers, national or regional deputies, presidents, directors of public companies, mayors, councilors, European commissioners, advisors, regional secretaries or general directors. Well, I can count on one hand the number of people who have managed to leave politics in, let’s say, dignified conditions. That they have been able to join civilian life, if you can say that, without stigmas that worsened the situation they had before taking the step and accepting to be a manager of public resources.
When I talk about stigmas, I am referring to everything that has been able to erode the public and personal, and also family, image of someone who has achieved institutional responsibility to the point of preventing them from having a “normal” life when they leave politics. We could start with the most serious cases, those who have been subjected to a judicial process, which in the Valencian case is a multitude. What happens is that of that crowd, few are convicted (although in the Valencian case the figure is large) and many are acquitted or, directly, their cases have been archived. For many of these “innocent” men and women, their lives have been hell, largely due to the slowness of justice. For years, awaiting trial, they have seen their reputation sunk, with harsh, and sometimes cruel, exposure in the communication ecosystem, which has made it difficult for them to recover a work or professional life under normal conditions. Not to mention the personal issue, the price that their families, their wives, husbands, children, brothers and parents have paid. It would be for a separate chapter.
But even for the majority of those who have abandoned political life without judicial oversight, it has not been easy either. The mere fact of belonging to a party and having exercised public responsibility has a price, sometimes excessive. Even more so if these people must return to a private activity as employees of a company or as self-employed. I know of cases in which these people have been fired or relegated to lower jobs simply because they were part of a political project. Those who have earned a position in the public service, either in the general administration or, for example, as university professors, tend to survive this return better. A separate case, they are those who before politics had their lives resolved, in the economic aspect; they’re very few.
This explains, in part, why there are many who, once entering politics, do everything possible not to abandon it. They know that “their” return to civilian life is going to be complex and also traumatic. It happens more in those who have been in public representation for many years and who have lost, or do not have, the security mechanisms to land with guarantees in a job far from the institutions. In other words, they become eternal. There are those who can spend their entire lives in public positions, an aspect that does not have to be either good or bad, but which in some cases is seen as a simple exercise in survival. The parties themselves collaborate a lot, and sometimes they become interest groups with a vocation to protect their associates to the last consequences. A scenario that worsens, with fratricidal episodes, when these parties lose power and have very little to offer their prominent militants.
Is it worth dedicating yourself to political life? I add to what has been said that I believe that there is nothing more noble than managing public resources judiciously to ensure that citizens have a better quality of life. And I have written on many occasions that politicians are underpaid. But I very much doubt that I would be able to recommend anyone to take the step into politics, because, depending on the context, being a politician is almost an act of heroism. That’s what I usually answer to anyone who asks me.
