Let’s start from the distant 1811, the year in which the Savoyard philosopher, diplomat and writer Joseph Marie de Maistre was ambassador of King Vittorio Emanuele I of Savoy in Tsarist Russia at the court of Alexander I and it was precisely in that year that he wrote in a letter the famous phrase “every people has the government it deserves”. And castles of political philosophy have been built on this assumption. Let’s take a leap in time and arrive in the year 2026. Tomorrow and Monday the polls will be open in Reggio (and in other important centers in the area), the people of Reggio will therefore have the opportunity to elect their own city government by choosing between 4 candidates for mayor: Mimmo Battaglia, Francesco Cannizzaro, Eduardo Lamberti-Castronuovo and Saverio Pazzano (mentioned in strict alphabetical order) and it is clear that by exercising their right to vote they will have then “the government they deserve”. There is no alibi and there is no deception. Just the weight of taking on the burden and responsibility of the choice.
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