The defeat of the Republicans in the United States mid-term elections was to be expected, although not to the actual extent and with the loss of the House of Representatives and the Senate at the same time.
The extensive victory for the Democrats overshadowed the re-election of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican Governor of California. The voters elected him for the courage of his proposals, above all those on the environment and global warming, but also for capping the price of pharmaceuticals and for guaranteed minimum wages.
The people of California voted for the programme and not for the Republican candidate.
Arnold Schwarzenegger represents a reference point for the transition from political elections to elections based on a programme and on the credibility of the person putting it forward and of politicians serving the citizens rather than working according to a logic of political alignment.
To relaunch itself today, the Unione needs to apply the same recipe as Schwarzenegger: to develop the programme for which it has a mandate and to do this with rigour.
I won’t get tired of repeating that the law on the pardon was not just a formidable stupidity in favour of the Centre Right, but it was a betrayal of the electors and of our election manifesto.
It was an error that must not be repeated. We were elected to keep the promises made to the citizens. Only for this. The only other possible alternative is to go back to the ballot box.