Jarosław Kaczyński smiled and smacked his lips as he tried to convince us that he and his party believed in the strength of the Polish state, its efficiency, and the common sense of Poles. Belief is not certainty. Perhaps I should have had enough sense to turn off that lip-smacking? But I listened on, disappointing both my own and Kaczyński’s faith in my common sense.
It turned out that Kaczyński was skeptical about the word “new” in the name “New Deal,” because, as he said, PiS’s previous strategy had been fantastic. They acted efficiently, there was a strategy thanks to which Poland was developing in two ways: economically and socially at the same time. Wages were rising, poverty was being reduced, and social disparities were shrinking. I agreed that logically it would make sense to call the “New Deal” the old, good order.
What will there be in this Polish, old order? Poland flowing with milk and honey. In short.
There will be billions for health care. Nice money. For what? To increase the number of doctors, train them, and bring in staff from abroad? I wonder where we will chase down those doctors? Because surely not from Syria.
Pensioners will wallow in money, and everyone will buy themselves a yacht in retirement and build a country house on their plot. Houses will grow like mushrooms after rain. With flat roofs, for some reason. Maybe it is about space for private helicopter airfields? Because we will be so wealthy that we will buy helicopters like cars.
Bureaucracy in agricultural production will disappear, because the Polish countryside is the apple of PiS’s eye. Polish farmers will do so well that I lack the words to describe it. Pendolino trains will run between villages and small towns. Over the course of a decade, the face of villages and small towns will change.
Identity and culture will be strengthened. There is talk of improving the livelihoods of 60,000 professional artists, building museums and theaters, and restoring historic monuments. And of “binding young people” to Poland through the study of history. Kaczyński’s words suggest that there will be about six hours of history a week: three hours of world history and three hours of Polish history. That may bind a person—but to the developing health care system, especially mental health care.
Poland is to be a proud country, move forward, make a leap, and climb upward, because it is worth being Polish—and if not for the homophobia of the United Right, a rainbow would certainly appear at the end of this Polish order.
So, what do you think of the new Polish order?