During the last week I have been asked the same question again and again. Every single time I have spoken with people from abroad: "How can you…?" (you=Italians, not me)

Words fail me, so I have decided to let the italian blogosphere speak for itself – and decided to start a regular column, centered upon something that has emerged from the online discussion.

This week, it obviously refers to the election, the reason for its outcome (at least, the one I forced myself to believe) and my attempt to answer the how-can-you-Italians question.

It goes approximately like this:

We are three Italians living in Madrid, where Zapatero has just been elected for the second time. Thank you Italians, we have
got another reason for not coming back to our Country. We are thankful
for having elected il Cavaliere once more.

Sorry Mum, we are not coming
back for another five years.

I can appreciate the quick-witted utterance of discomfort, but there is something that sounds wrong to my ears: the "time to move abroad" comment can be an effective way to put a distance between ourselves and a disappointing reality, but I cannot help putting it side by side with a quotation from Norberto Bobbio [via L’eleganza del riccio]

Democracy needs active citizens, more than any other kind of Government does. It has nothing to gain from passive, apathetic, indifferent citizens – those who only care about their own business and delegate to others the burden of caring about common affairs. Democracy lives and prospers if its citizens care about the destiny of their town as much as about their home, which is just a small part of the town.

Or, in other words: ask not what democracy can do for you…