And why should we believe them

...they haven't done anything so far and don't know how, but they will continue on the same path

Children born in the year democracy arrived and when "ours" finally came into their own, are now 29 years old, have finished or not finished university, some have even completed master's degrees... if they are related, even distantly, to democrats, they have jobs in public administration or in one of "our" public companies and have a secure present, and if all goes well, a future too... They have certainly, reliably, and loyally voted several times, of course always for "ours"... or they haven't voted because they are unemployed, uninspired, listless, uninterested... Or perhaps, they don't live here at all.

Their parents (those who are not democrats) have been knocking on doors for years, drifting from the employment bureau to undeclared work, and if they have managed to find some "white-collar job" they earn 400-600 KM, at best 800, if they are even registered, it's for the minimum wage and that's how much contributions are paid from and deducted from their salary... Those who haven't managed are struggling on the verge of PTSD, either due to the war or the post-war period, they watch five news programs a day or don't watch them at all, they discuss the migrant crisis over a beer in front of the shop or after evening prayer in front of the mosque, shaking their heads or shrugging their shoulders because it's one of the topics that can still be discussed openly... Or it doesn't affect them at all... Then they go to bed unhappy, and wake up even unhappier in the morning, partly because they woke up at all.

Roughly like this, like a scene from the sixties of the last century and the script of a celebrated screenwriter for films of a notorious director, or completely differently, but that's the least important for this text.

What is truly important is the fact that during this time, their democratic candidates – some of them with supernatural powers (their concern for Bosnia and Herzegovina dates back to their diapers) – are convincing them that if they want things to get better, they must remain in power for years because they need time for arduous reforms that someone else didn't implement in the last 29 years... For this, they need national unity (whatever that means and which we don't have, but we will), economic strength (which we also don't have, but we will have if we have national unity), a democratic state and not private projects (meaning, we currently have private projects, not a democratic state), and a good educational system (which means this one is bad)... Does this mean that this bad educational system has, in the meantime, "educated" five or six generations of unqualified and ignorant people who, for 29 years, have been unable to strengthen the country economically, unite it nationally (I don't know who), nor implement reforms and turn a private project that someone conceived (and implemented) into a democratic state? Is it even worth mentioning that in the meantime, over the past 29 years, dozens of some, sort of, somebody's... people, God knows how qualified (they certainly weren't experts because they were educated in the old, bad system that we replaced with this good democratic one)... have changed positions as ministers and directors of countless institutions that were supposed to take care of the economy, civil affairs, and education...

Well, alright... since any other opinion in (this) democracy is considered an act of hostility, national heresy, and infidelity, it doesn't occur to me to say anything that would question the theses put forward by the elected or soon-to-be-elected luminaries so far, let alone comment on their contribution and input to statehood, economy, democracy, and education... Instead, allow me to read what they said, and perhaps they don't know they said it, or perhaps it was just the truth speaking through them, those who have been participating and directly contributing for almost three decades to the fact that we now need a "different, more honest, more evenly developed, more solidary, and more successful, more Bosnian Bosnia and Herzegovina... a country where the focus will not be on national, ethnic divisions and the past, but on solving people's life issues, dialogue, internal agreement, and the future.".

"I will restore dignity to Bosniaks," said one, "a people left to the mercy of a narrow circle of people operating on feudal postulates," without naming anyone from the "narrow circle of people," let alone mentioning the fact that he himself was once part of that circle not so long ago, but unprovoked, he mentions his / their main allies, Washington and Brussels, but also neighbors(?!) and Germany and Turkey and China and all other friendly countries that respect Bosnia and Herzegovina"... If it weren't sad, it would be funny. However, it's not enough for him, so he continued to discover warm water: "I am aware of the aspirations of the current political rulers in Banja Luka and Mostar, I know they are doing everything to harm the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but not for the benefit of BiH Serbs and Croats, but they are doing it to protect their regimes and their para-institutional clique that has dominance and interests in the economy, judiciary, executive, and legislative power."

And then he promised: "We will return the institutions to the citizens and the people," "we will bring an end to the current rule of feudal oligarchs with democratic feathers," claiming to know "how to return Bosnia and Herzegovina to the path of democratic institutions, international integration, and internal agreement based on solving economic, educational, health, pension, and other life problems." Besides the fact that he doesn't mention in a single word what he has done or achieved so far, or at least tried to implement all his promises, this unfortunate man has confirmed the terrible state of affairs in this country: that institutions are alienated from citizens and the people, that the country is struggling with economic, educational, health, pension, and other life problems. The rest of his political program is more pamphleteering than sloganizing, and therefore of little or no value to mention: "throughout its thousand-year history, Bosnia and Herzegovina has had various enemies, both external and internal, and it has had problems and challenges greater than today's, but it has always remained a unified community and a space of the middle path..." He didn't lack self-praise either: "My advantage is precisely this ability to gather people, both peoples and citizens, on a broad center platform, to unite rather than divide and constantly conflict, which only benefits ethnic leaders..." and then he lists all those who have supported him, all of them the same as him and hatched from the same nest.

Another luminary revealed to us that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not "a whole and democratic state of equal peoples throughout its territory" and that "the political party to which he and his person belong believes that (it would be best if BiH) were a state of at least five multi-ethnic, economic regions" but that for this "consensus within BiH is necessary" which, unfortunately, does not exist at this moment and is unlikely to exist in the near future because, although it is a "completely legal and legitimate topic, permitted by the existing Constitution of BiH and the Dayton Peace Agreement," "in circumstances where there is no political consensus in BiH to create a better system through which we would achieve the ideal of a whole and democratic state of equal peoples and citizens as soon as possible, we are left to respect what we have today as a framework within which we operate"! In other words, this is what we would like, what we haven't managed to even start in the last two or three decades, for which we have no idea how or in what way to even bring to a solution, but, well... we don't have what we want, but we have what we have, "we must consistently respect what we have" and it doesn't matter whom you elect, me or anyone else...

Furthermore, he said: "We must do everything to ensure that return, and sustainable return, is as successful as possible, to strengthen the economy which should be accompanied by social measures, to restore damaged trust between the peoples and citizens of BiH, to ensure equality for all throughout the country." In other words, we have not succeeded in returning people to their homes, or we have succeeded in not returning people to their homes, helped tens and hundreds of thousands to emigrate from the country and ensured they find their own livelihood if it's better for them there than here, we don't have an economy that would support any social policy and measures to save people from hunger, and we have no idea how, we don't know the way, and nothing comes to mind that would help establish trust and equality among the peoples and citizens of BiH throughout the territory of BiH... but, well, that's what's needed... We haven't done this so far and we have no idea how we will proceed or what we will do, but we will continue on the same path, whatever God gives... At least another eight years... because it will take us that long to finish the job we haven't been doing.

It's not enough for him with his own foolishness, so he continued: "These, in my opinion, along with numerous other topics that need to be covered, are ways to reintegrate BiH as best as possible. The second thing is the integration of such reintegrated BiH into the European Union and NATO alliance..." noting that the EU and NATO alliance "have no alternative." Well, but for that, "there must be unity of state-building political forces, pro-Bosnia and Herzegovina political forces," as well as around "the minimum values that we must all protect together when it comes to BiH and below which none of these forces should go," and one of those things is "strict respect and defense of the achieved level of reforms" and that "there should not be any state-building political force that, for any reason, would be willing, especially for the reason of the struggle for power, to go below that level and undermine the achieved level of reforms..."

Let me try to translate into understandable language for us and for him, the poor man, and in his own words; namely, some extraterrestrial "political forces – because without them it would not be possible to do this – enabled the adoption of the shameful law on amendments to the Law on Residence, which has caused great problems for returnees and directly undermines the Dayton Peace Agreement, the Law on Conflict of Interest, which has practically destroyed this very important system and mechanism for fighting corruption, as well as the Law on Public Procurement, which has practically broken the public procurement system in BiH..." and he – the poor man – like his political party, could do nothing because they were not in power and because there is no effective instrument to protect vital existential interests against extraterrestrials. Damn extraterrestrials...

In the end, he said that today Bosnia and Herzegovina lacks knowledge, persistence, consistency, credibility, and credible policy because we need all of that, and it is not allowed because "the goal of those who do not wish BiH well is to break the unity of patriotic political forces and thereby try to silence the Bosniak political factor, without which decisions can no longer be made in BiH or in the region," and for that, we "need Bosniak unity" against which some openly work "out of petty personal interests," while others "intentionally sow confusion and discord, trying to divide and weaken us. But, thank God, "that will not happen to them because our people recognize the historical context in which we live" and have a party that is "the only force that knows and can, that has the wisdom and courage to build a country of equal people, to oppose its enemies, and to lead it into the EU and NATO," even though they have done nothing in that regard so far.

Partly to show that the end is nowhere in sight, let alone that his political and all other wisdom ends with platitudes that make no sense, the candidate pointed out that "citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina living abroad represent a huge potential," and we should now pay special attention to their role in the economy... from the phase when the diaspora sent donations, we must move to the phase when the diaspora will invest in BiH, and what else we would do with them we have no idea because we should offer them something, and at no level of government is there a program to facilitate and speed up the procedures for starting a business in the homeland. Instead, we will help them preserve their culture, tradition, and language (where they already live), because we are not interested in that even in the country, as we clearly show by allocating 0.003% of the budget to culture in the Federation of BiH.

As for the departure of young people, it is not a big problem – if it is a problem at all – because it is a "trend that is present throughout the region," and which can be "slowed down (only) by ensuring conditions for staying in BiH, for which a series of reform moves are needed, including in education." What those moves should be, we have no idea, which we also show through personnel policy in cantonal and federal ministries of education and some others, not to list them again now.

Those were the right and center ones... The left ones are even worse. They have only now remembered that they have both an obligation and responsibility... and that they are the left... and that the fight for social justice is one of the fundamental differences between the left and the right... and that when you sit on the left for long enough, it goes numb and feels like someone else's, and then only the right remains... and that they are all, left sons of the same father... and so on.

In short... I could conclude on ten pages now, lament over the numerous insults to honor and common sense, ask myself and you meaningless questions like: "Where did these people come from? Where were they and what were they doing until now?" I could call all of this indecent, unethical, immoral... but what's the point?! We all know everything, we know them all, we grew old together, admittedly they on the screens and we in front of the screens, they with retainers and we... If it weren't sacrilegious, blasphemous, heretical, infidelly hostile, I would most like to ask: "Is this where they brought us after 29 years of driving?" Because it is, I will neither conclude nor ask anything... Instead of all that, I will paraphrase a famous saying: A healthy person has a thousand wishes, and a sick person only one: that nothing changes.