Over the last few days, we’ve been observing the political parties here in the Azores and their summer work, and we don’t have much doubt about the extremism installed in the debate or the political narrative.
Basically – that’s the extremism – for some, everything is fine; for others, everything is wrong. For those in power, things are going wonderfully; for those in opposition, it’s all doom and gloom.
We want nothing to do with the direction each party takes in life. Keep going… Straight ahead.
What we do know—because we realize it—is that people are getting fed up with this state of the art.
We have no doubt that the people can see – does anyone? – that not everything is bad, but not everything is bad either.
What’s more… We also have no doubt that once certain euphorias have passed, people are beginning to want to see if anyone has anything different to offer them.
In other words, we should stop bad-mouthing each other and come up with some concrete ideas to improve our lives.
And people are also fed up with lies, which is an additional problem.
What is at stake is the regime itself, democracy. The people are heading for that day—the day when they stop believing altogether. And on that day, we will all be very unhappy.
The central question is whether political parties can still change their ways. In a recent debate, someone said yes for pure survival. Let’s hope so because our path isn’t going well.

Armando Mendes is the editor-in-chief at the DIário Insular newspaper and a reporter for the Azorean Regional Radio and Television in Terceira Island, Azores.

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from various leading thinkers and writers from the Azores to give the diaspora and those interested in the current Azores a sense of the major opinions on some of the archipelago’s issues.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL).