What does a free market fan think about the Reformist Bloc's program?

Elections are coming up, and the political party most heavily targeting the so-called "right-wing voter" (a group that includes our average libertarian) with its messages is the Reformist Bloc (RB). That's why I decided to focus a little on the 12 "principles" through which the RB wants to build a fair and modern public environment [1].

1. “New electoral rules guaranteeing fair elections”– a strange choice (pun intended) for the first point. On the one hand, few voters are interested in the details of electoral legislation, on the other hand, elections cannot be “fair” by definition, because they are a mechanism through which, in general, the majority rules over the minority.

2. “Transparency and public control in party financing. Targeted financing, guaranteeing competitiveness and political representation of Bulgarian citizens”– this second point, like the first, seems to be aimed at party life and is more of an interest to members of the Bulgarian People’s Party than to voters. Apart from being quite vague in its implementation, this “beginning” explicitly accepts the idea that parties should be supported by taxpayers’ money – an unacceptable idea for many people.

3. "Freeing the court, prosecutor's office and police from political, mafia and oligarchic dependencies" - okay, but how does one free a state monopoly (such as the repressive apparatus) from dependencies, especially political ones? This is the classic political proposal (especially on the domestic stage) - choose us, we are angels and, unlike others, we will not abuse the enormous power when we take it.

4. "Uncompromising prosecution and punishment of the corrupt and those who abuse power" - anyone who is even a little more familiar with the functioning of state/political institutions will tell you that corruption is an integral part of the model. The moment you place the power to exercise coercion and the billions of levs taken from other people through the tax system in the hands of any person, it is very difficult to expect him to simply refuse to use them. Abuse of power is stopped by taking away the power of some people over others by eliminating political institutions, not by electing Radan Kanev as an MEP.

5. “Removing regulatory bodies from their dependence on corporate and political interests [2].”– similar to the above, state regulatory bodies are managed and financed by politicians – they cannot, by definition, be independent of political interests. On the other hand, political parties and individuals are constantly lobbied by corporate interests and are even directly on the payroll of some of them. So, unless they are thinking of eliminating state regulation and switching to one provided by the free market, the above remains wishful thinking.

6. "Implementation of strict antitrust rules to protect competition, free initiative and the interests of consumers." - the Republic of Bulgaria has neglected to read the economic literature on this issue, because it has long been proven that competition needs protection only from antitrust rules and the authorities that implement them. No monopoly or cartel can survive for long in a free market if it is not supported by appropriate political intervention.

7. “Equal opportunities and fair competition in public procurement. New legislation guaranteeing the removal of the mafia from them.”– another promise of the kind “we are angels, believe us”. The problem with public procurement will be solved when the state has less opportunity to spend and participate in certain areas of public life.

8. "Depoliticization of state administration and personal responsibility of civil servants. Elimination of party and family appointments" - of course, any organization whose leadership is composed of political figures can be depoliticized :D.

9. "Inclusion of the instruments of direct democracy and citizen control in the making and implementation of decisions at the central and local levels" - inclusion of the instrument through which a certain politically active majority will be able to decide on more issues for me. Great!!!

10. "Sharp opposition to attempts to divide the Bulgarian nation and oppose it on the basis of ethnic or religious principles" - like every nation, the Bulgarian one is made up of separate individuals who have the right to separate and unite with whomever they want and as they want.

11. “Abolition of media monopolies and transparency of media ownership as a guarantee of freedom of speech”– unless we get more details, this sounds like state intervention to improve competition. Let’s improve freedom of speech with state intervention…

12. “Protecting Bulgarian nature and its riches through strict new legislation” – I always hoped that the “right-wing” Bulgarian parties were aware that the state is a bad manager. But it seems that, after decades of ecological misery, they still think in the Republic of Bulgaria that it is somehow not good to have a state-owned supermarket (I hope they think so!), but a state-owned beach is something totally different.

13. Position against Russian imperialism– I decided to add something that I have been liking lately in the Bloc's speech, and that is the position taken against the even more aggressive Russian imperialism.

As you can see, it's hard to be a person who supports personal freedom and a market economy and at the same time have a good opinion of what the Reformist Bloc is offering in these elections. I'm looking forward to some generational change in the parties so we can see something other than blue statism.

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