MERITOCRACY: Equality does not mean flattening. Equality of opportunity should not become equality of outcome. Everyone should have the same opportunities, but not all have the same capabilities. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. A society thrives when it can build upon the strengths of its citizens and utilize the success of each individual to stimulate the progress of the whole. Obviously, meritocracy needs evaluation systems. The client state removed any sense of performance evaluation and replaced it with party favoritism. But, when the competent and the incompetent, the hard worker and the lazy worker have the same professional advancements and the same compensation, the result is both unfair and counterproductive, leading the entire system to collapse. The forced equalization of uneven things constitutes a type of fascism, which is particularly dangerous. The big challenge ahead is to create mechanisms of evaluation and compensation, invulnerable to partisan "contamination." This cannot be done if the parties still have the role of the "godfather" of political life. To implement meritocracy, many quality criteria and evaluation systems are applied globally in the Public Administration, Education and the Private Economy; we will adopt them at all levels.
ΤΕΑΜWORK: We work in teams. We maximize our performance by learning from each other. Even personal goals are better achieved through teamwork. We are pleased to see people from different backgrounds work as friends, towards the common good, setting aside the interests of their respective "guilds". We strive to heal the differences that have fragmented our society. This happens step by step, as we discover the worth of our fellow workers and come to realize that diversity is not a threat but instead enriches our thinking. Our aim is to encourage the Greek society and, of course, the Public Administration to adopt this culture of teamwork.
ΙNTEGRITY: Integrity starts with the little things. From a little piece of paper that you will not throw out of the window, from the extra block you will walk to reach the recycle bin, from the cigarette you will not extinguish in the sand of the beach. Integrity is first and foremost how we relate to ourselves. We have integrity because we like it. We believe that immorality brings temporary benefits whereas morality is a long term survival mechanism for a society. Yes we all know the opposing argument; in fact we have heard it many times before: ‘Everybody says the same, and then they get corrupted’. We can not convince you, this is not the case, even if we describe the transition of many other countries from immorality to integrity, because there is another opposing argument: ‘This is Greece’. Yet we can all fight for establishing integrity not as a straightjacket on everyone’s aspirations but as a system, which will help everybody move forward- by establishing the terms and the limits of our citizenry.
RESPONSIBILITY: Democracy cannot function when citizens do not care for it. The last few years we are indeed experiencing a parody of Democracy, a false polity that is used only as an alibi for the parasites. This does not relieve us from the responsibility of being informed and fight for the advancement of the idea of the RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN. We consider that indifference for the public matters undermines and in the long term abolishes democracy. Public matters are not only the elections. They are mainly matters of everyday life, in our neighbourhood, and our local communities. We believe that participating in the public sphere affects people, as laws affect people, and as taxes affect people. We work for the citizen but also with the citizen.
INNOVATION: We search. We soul-search. We study the international practice , we evalue it, we compare it. Which practice was successful, where and why. Can it be applicable in Greece? In its entirety? With modifications? Which should they be; We embrace the innovative ideas, we are looking forward. We believe that innovation is the gene for survival, for an economy but for the society too. Greece had always innovative minds. But it declined because it suppressed them and they were forced to leave. If the ingenuity and creativity of the Greek people find fertile ground they flourish! This can be achieved with an environment that promotes innovation, initially by promoting innovative people to positions of power. It is not easy. But a political movement that believes in and fosters innovation should have a better chance than the idle, declining, old party mechanism that asks for your vote.
SINCERITY: The politicians of the yesteryears had warned us: ‘Do not speak the truth-the people are not mature enough to accept it’. On the contrary we believe that if you are not truthful, your relationship with your self and the one you face, is destroyed once and for all. Of course there are many ways to say something. There can be a scary way and a persuasive way. But if you start diluting the part of truth that you intend to present, where will you stop? This is how we arrive to ‘There is Money out There’ (Campaign Moto of George Papandreou whilst leader of the opposition reassuring Greeks that money was available and austerity measures were not necessary, when in fact the country was heading for bankruptcy) This is why in CREATE AGAIN! we intend to be straightforward even this can be painful sometimes- this is the more healthy way for people to communicate but also the more healthy way of conducting politics.
PROFESSIONALISM: We will do everything in our hand to restore this misunderstood term. Professionalism means above all commitment. I start something, I plan for it, I set my targets, I conduct the cost-benefit analysis, I choose the means and methods to achieve it. And when I finish, I report on the outcome. I am ACCOUNTABLE of the resources I was allowed for and the results I achieved. Flooding the Public Sector with inexperienced people, has lead to the disregard of the self evident principles of professionalism. The shallow thinking of the ‘non–confrontational’ approach that the populist politicians invented, came into being, precisely so that the every featherweight of a politician, can avoid his or hers responsibilities and the consequences of their choices. We are not professional politicians, but professionals of the real economy and we will bring professionalism in every aspect of political conduct.
PATRIOTISM [HELLENISM]: Another term that has been undermined, misunderstood, distorted not only by ‘professional’ nationalists that think it is all about traditional dresses and village parades, that chew on a past that they do not understand, they are not entitled to it, but also by small minded internationalists that consider it a threat to the nation-less and culturally castrated ‘citizen of the world’.Patriotism for us is this fine balance between reason and imagination, between the practical mind and poetry, between action and the dream, between to analytical West and intuitive East.
Patriotism is not ‘return’ to our roots. It is this deep feeling that these roots are still strong and they feed us with creativity. In a materialistic world, without a moral compass, we support the importance of the humanitarian values. We believe –as many others who participate in the Education of our Land’ in the importance of spirituality, of critical thinking and in open mind. Patriotism is the constructive curiosity, the intellectual boldness. In order to understand the other person’s mentality you should not be afraid of his point of view, but to accept that his point of view can enrich your perception. We reject fanaticism except against fanaticism itself. ‘With reason and dream’. These will accompany our journey.