About Social Democrats
Dear Social Democrats and our friends,
Elections should be the celebration of democracy where the best strategic vision is chosen from competing ideas. However, the situation is more akin to a discount sale where the loud slogans try to make us buy something we really don’t need.
Analysts claim there is no political vision. Others blame mental stagnation.
The question on the table really is: what kind of Estonia do we want? We want an Estonia where people want to live, where they don’t want leave in search of a better life. Where they don’t feel marginalized or second-rate compared to our neighbors. Where they don’t constantly need to worry about their and their families’ future but they can enjoy their lives and look forward to what is to come. We want a cosmopolitan, innovative and self-assured Estonia where the options are not to either work yourself to death to gain economic prosperity or suffer in poverty.
We have achieved some astounding success but we’ve also made some dramatic mistakes. Our success is macro-economic but let’s honestly admit that we’ve not been very successful in transfering that success into our society’s long term development.
Take for example the startling number of HIV infections in Estonia, which reflects the fact that the government failed to act decisively and in a timely manner to solve our social problems. There’s no doubt that we’ll have to work extra hard today and tomorrow to compensate for the failures of yesterday.
Our problem is not the lack of success, our problem is that our development strategies are not sustainable. During the last 20 years of Estonia’s development, our success has been built on cheap labor, cheap loans, easy tax system, and the postponment of important social solutions. But we cannot continue like this. We might not see the results of the failed policies today or tomorrow but we need to do something right now to avoid a future where it is too late to change anything.
We have to admit that we are not going to be wealthy as long as we see cheap labor as our competitive advantage. We can’t play catch up with our Nordic neighbors simply by selling our labor at the cheapest cost. Our competive advantage should be our creativity, knowledge-based economy, and foresight.
Our election campaign is based on these principles – a new vision for strategically important areas. We have worked out a responsible program, published its cost for all to see, and have demonstrated that our campaign promises can be accomplished with a balanced budget.
Estonia’s stagnated political thought needs to go through rebirth. After having achieved our project-based goals, and after having weathered the biggest recession since our independence, we need to revise our beliefs and start from the beginning.
Sven Mikser
Chairman, Social Democratic Party