It might just be his vibrant baby blue eyes or his deep dimples that gives him an innocent (I can do no harm) appearance, but I get really excited every time Zapatero comes on the television. The last time I watched him on television, he was answering questions from a selected audience, kind of like a town hall meeting, but with an elected Prime Minister. He was talking one on one with his citizens answering their concerns, in what appeared to be straightforward without a sneaky political agenda. I admired the intimacy of his contact with the citizens and more so the questions being asked were real concerns that are affecting the Spanish people. The economy is a given, and he obviously has a hard time convincing the people that they can make it out of the crisis when the level of unemployment in Spain is the highest in Europe and steadily increasing. There were of course other issues on the table, one of which is where a priest vigorously demanded to know if Zapatero really thought a fetus was not a baby and if he thought it was right to kill it. He was of course referring to the changes being made toward the legality of abortion, where the government wants to make more provisions and access to abortion. Aside from this, the Zapatero government (PSOE) has pushed to legalize gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, reduce the role of religion in schools, grant more political power to Spain’s provinces and better integrate immigrants since the election in 2004 preceded by the more conservative Partido Popular( PP). These social changes have been for the most part well applauded, but now with the economic crisis, it begs the question of whether this Socialist government is equipped to handle the challenges that it is being faced with.
Ive had one too many debates over the subject of Socialism vs Capitalism with one too many Spaniards. In the end, I never know why I always defend capitalism when although its claim to fame is democracy and rights for all, the most capitalist country in the world, still has yet to give gays equal rights passing laws like Proposition 8 in California to restrict same-sex marriage. They both have their upsides, and I think we waste so much time and bickering pondering on which one works better, when the our concerns should be whether or not the laws of a country is working for the good of ALL its citizens …obviously we don’t live in a perfect world and this would never happen. But, let’s think for a moment about Spain who just 40 years ago was once in a conservative dictatorship and have made these progressions in such a short amount of time, aiming to eradicate religious conservatism and sexual inequality. Obviously these are ideas much more complicated than Im making it, but does it really have to be?
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