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The 25th of April was a war coup used to serve as a colonial service, saturated with armed forces employed to serve as successive colonial services and with no end to the war in sight. It had the support of the overwhelming majority of the Portuguese people, all the more so since the MFA immediately announced the installation of a democratic regime, which was heightened jubilation.

Political thinking in the Armed Forces was not uniform as might be expected.

A significant number would have opinions, as the only opposition party to the organized regime, before April 25th.

The contacts of this party with the MFA are increasingly known and from 25 April onwards.

On the 24th of April, thousands of red carnations arrived in Lisbon, a communist symbol. After the fall of the Quartel do Carmo, on the return to the military units, several military vehicles already had their hammer and sickle painted.

If there is any doubt about the MFA’s contacts, the PCP just has to go and review the “Essay on Military and Power”, recently on RTP2 on the day of the December 2021 program, in which Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho and other military personnel are very clear on the matter.

After months of instability, with a faction wanting to influence political orientation, the military installation ended on November 25, 1975, with the beginning of the installation of a true democratic regime, although the symbolism of the same clear exclusively on the 25th of April.

After four decades of democratic regime and other aspects to feel more deeply involved, with a view to deepening it, which is a permanent task, in which citizens should feel more critical.

Among the first births, individual freedom, which, to paraphrase Voltaire, “keeps it, which is the most precious possession of life”; freedom of the press, it can only seem to me that it should not allow state freedoms because it will lose some freedom; accession to the European Union as a great democratic space that preserves the spirit of Western democracy; progress in education with a very significant increase in literature and, in particular, without access to higher education; creation of the SNS. This reference deserves special, even because it has been the source of much controversy.

It is undeniable that the State must provide quality health services to all citizens and this is mentioned by everyone regardless of their ideology. The former comprises the assistance service itself, training of different actors such as nurses, technical assistants, doctors and others, and, finally, an investigation.

Here, the countries considered here as health expenditures in all developed countries must have more alternatives than the economic growth of different countries. Thus, as concerns about funding have to be in the first line of thinking, not getting wrapped up in demagogic feats without presenting concrete solutions. Neither capitalist countries nor communist dictatorships provide the best services. These are mainly based in the Nordic social democracies and in Germany.

What is not admissible are assistance for ideological reasons, as probably happened in Portugal in the present pandemic.

Moving on to the fact that the political aspects have to be improved, they must be exact in ethical principles.

In representative democracy, the citizen deposits his authority in individual figures, in institutions and in the government itself. This trust cannot be defrauded by lack of ethical principles. To a categorical principle, these principles constitute what in political philosophy is considered a “categorical imperative”, that is, something totally inescapable. These principles by simple lies can be tampered with, or the change of fact from “truth into opinion”.

Let’s look at some examples.

Some citizens, particularly Russians, demonstrated in front of their country’s embassy against the Soviet dictatorship. The Mayor stated that he had no knowledge of anything, the Minister of Foreign Affairs had a totally dubious attitude, and António Costa classified all this as an “administrative act”. He issued an opinion that contradicts objective factual truths.

Is it acceptable in a democracy that they have the names of anti-dura protesters from their country through diplomatic channels?

Of course, António Costa’s opinion was widely disseminated by the media!, having thus slyly modified factual truths into opinion. Will it have favored the partner of the generation that assumes itself as a defender of the dictatorship, that is, the PCP?

Everything leads us to believe that it originated with employees of the Chamber itself.

The famous debate between Mário Soares and Álvaro Cunhal should be recorded here, most likely the highest moment in the history of television in Portugal, in which Soares completely distanced himself from the activities of communist dictatorships. António Costa, out of pure pursuit of power, even not as efficiently as PC, had to show himself discreetly to draw the attention of the Portuguese, so discreet for folklore that discreet way to appreciate.

The famous socialist government of Socrates, the famous bankrupt country and the PS financial assistance, the famous troyka, which drastically imposed austerity in Portugal. António Costa was never in an austere way of asking that he was absolutely sure, and in a cunning way, little, he only knew how to transmit as a propaganda cliché at the beginning of the legislature that “had just become austere”, when the Passos Coelho austerity government had to act according to the norms accepted by the PS. This is a lack of ethics in politics.

Announcing in this way the end of austerity, and simultaneously a reduction in working hours without knowing it would cost, are popular gestures regarding votes, but which in these circumstances constituted an authentic left-wing populism.

A country that is coming out of an economic crisis needs to work hard and increase productivity, truths that António Costa is hard to convey. End of austerity and less work are more appealing!

António Costa constantly uses another political buzzword, which is the European one that announces growth above the media, that “Portugal grows above the media”, when all economists write categorically that they really needed to catch up.

An unsuspecting economist, António Costa Silva in “Portugal and the World at a Crossroads” (Bertrand Editora, 2021) writes on pg. 271: “it is important to understand that the country’s economic growth between 2000 and 2020 was around 0.35 a year”. one page 276 adds: “in the last 30 years Portugal has diversified economically from Europe, has been promoting falling average growth rates, has been selling its productivity, which is now the lowest in Europe at 15, has been indebted more and more” .

It should be remembered that in the last 25 years there have been 18 years of socialist governance, and when it comes very close to Marxist economic principles, this model of action in several countries has become “economic immobility”.

A curious historical fact should be mentioned. The year 1848 was considered “the year of all revolutions in Europe”, given the series of anti-regime events in several countries, such as France, the German states of the time, Austria, etc. Marx stated a short time later at a socialist meeting: “the end of capitalism is near”. It was chronologically wrong by almost two centuries!

Another aspect of António Costa’s governance has been the multiplication of institutes and bodies supporting the government, which have greatly burdened the public administration. There are overlapping purposes between them.

The state of justice with cases of the most varied nature, for which there is no end in sight, are references in the diaries in the media, and the country with the minimalist phrase of the prime minister “to justice what belongs to justice” is not convinced. Prime Minister, bear in mind that the people do not believe in justice in Portugal!

See the need to show something positive, with the news storm that was the extradition request of a defendant who left Portugal unaccompanied.

Finally, as the last negative aspect due to failure of principles, among which ethical names can be defined, it must refer to a series of actions with dubious curricular elements, even contemplated for Brussels, without meeting other criteria of technical competence, for which it seems enough to show the so-called “PS card” Are the competent people of this country all in the PS? This also constitutes an attack on citizenship, as technical competence must be rewarded by society.

This integration between Government and State is one of the principles on which totalitarianism is based, so well mentioned and particularly praised by authors of political philosophy, among which Raymond Aron and Hannah aspectndt should be considered.

Despite so many disturbances, we will not get there, because nowadays the vast majority of Portuguese people love democracy, even if it is sometimes treated badly.