Final Word from Monday, June 15, 2009
You don't have to be a libertarian or anarchist to recognize that sometimes the best government is no government. As the Czechs say, he who does nothing can't screw anything up. The cabinet of Jan Fischer is making a name for itself by doing very little. It's improving the CR's image abroad simply by being nondescript and by keeping its pants on. It might also succeed in cutting some of the fat out of the state budget and in delaying some of the big, shady deals that attract all the usual suspects. Only another IPB-like scandal could probably turn the public permanently against the Fischer team. Voters, though, won't have much time to get used to the blandness. One election campaign just ended and another is gearing up. Only the lobbyists, advertising-related companies and political pundits are salivating. Time is running out, but putting off the early elections is still doable and would be a hit with voters.[Czech Republic lobbying]
Glossary of difficult words
libertarian - a person who believes in only minimal state intervention in the lives of citizens;
he who does nothing ... - kdo nic nedělá, nic neskazí;
to screw something up - to completely mismanage or mishandle a situation;
nondescript - lacking distinctive or interesting features or characteristics;
keeping its pants on - an allusion to a recent naked photo of Mirek Topolánek;
shady - of doubtful honesty or legality;
blandness - the state of lacking strong features or characteristics and therefore being uninteresting;
to gear up - to equip or prepare oneself;
pundit - an expert in a particular subject who is called upon to give opinions about it to the public;
to salivate - to display great enjoyment at the sight or prospect of something.