During the early years of the Restoration of Democracy, the founder of New Democracy and defender of the Right Konstantinos Karamanlis, wanted to regenerate and update his political space, having been influenced by the French political culture which he adopted during his long stay in Paris during the junta.
He attempted to give the newly-established New Democracy liberal and social characteristics and adopted the term “social liberalism”.
At the same time he tried to surround himself with distinguished divs, to integrate and bring close to him the intellectuals of the Right who were protagonists in the ideological domination of his faction in the post-war years.
He may have also integrated and saved the far right, but it was Tsatsos, Rallis, Papaligouras, Averof, Kanellopoulos, Horn, Lamprias and other important divs who set the tone with their spirituality and culture.
They were distinguished for their rivalry towards the Left, but also their ethos, behavior and in general their commitment to democratic beliefs.
That “enlightened” Right, as Eleni Vlachou had dubbed it, was free from the historic weight of the royal party, had overcome the black marketeering and collaborationism of the post-civil war era, avoided the scourge of the communist threat, isolated the junta apologists and in general appeared to be a European and progressive force.
However, when the ND founder became President of Greece, the party gradually began to lose its shine. In the Andreas Papandreou years Kostas Mitsotakis emerged as a rival leader, who turned to Thatcherism and neoliberalism. When his time came, he turned to the populist Right, paving the way for Miltiadis Evert.
Over time the arguments and practices of the old Right were adopted, populism became its bread and butter, it succumbed to the religious fanaticism of Christodoulos and through it legitimized and bred variations of nationalist far-right.
At some point, due to the pressure, it even encouraged the flourishing of the more extreme far-right elements. This helped develop the xenophobia and police state, which were fertile ground for the despicable neo-Nazi gang to grow.
Over time, the greater Right wing became distorted.
In the Right wing apartment building – to cite the currently under investigation Karatzaferis – there are knife-wielding thugs, cowardly goons, god-fearing corrupt individuals, ridiculous nationalist populists, some decadent Karamanlis fans, the leader’s buddies and an incredible cycle of businessmen from the Columbian school of thought, where everything is up for grabs, without any measure or respect towards the law.
This right wing faction bares no resemblance to that of its founder.
Today’s crisis, along with the absolute failure of the center-left, highlights the country’s political problem.
Truth be told, without the rebirth of the Right wing and the recovery of the Center Left, the country is in danger of entering the Age of Monsters, affecting the country’s place in the world and the prosperity of its people.
Antonis Karakousis
