Piskorski: The Hollow of the Polish State

We live in a time of contractism, that is, the belief that the state has a social agreement with citizens.

The modern state on the alleged The West, to which successive representatives of the Polish political class proudly refer, is based on this assumption, which is the precursor of 1 of the founders of liberal thought, John Locke. So if we take seriously the doctrine of the strategy that exists in Poland after 1989, we will conclude that we are acting under a certain agreement, written in fact, due to the fact that defined in the Constitution. This basic law is about our obligations, but besides about what we deserve in return from the state that we are expected to respect as ours. However, the bankruptcy of this state, manifested in very different spheres, makes us say that we are on an increasingly fast way to its delegitimisation, or failure of the value of the current state expression in the eyes of citizens. Of course, there may be any importance here, due to historical experiences, the mentality of Poles, frequently in the past, justifiedly or not, who consider subsequent structures of power hostile to themselves and Polish interests.

How does it look today? State delegation by the political class shall have at least 3 levels. The first level is to respond to the utmost expectations of us, i.e. counting by the Warsaw authorities that we will be ready to give our lives, wellness and property to face the enemy they designate. The problem is that no 1 rationally reasoning in their discrimination a friend – the enemy long ago does not believe. As a result, there is simply a increasing number of Poles, who, in his current formula, are not ready to spill not only 1 drop of blood, but not even 1 drop of sweat and not 1 drop of gold. Below 1/3 of Poles, according to various surveys carried out in fresh years, would be ready to implement (declaratively) the work to defend Homeland in the event of the outbreak of war. It is rather natural, due to the fact that Poles realize what war is, with it under their noses, beyond the southeast border. They know that it is surely not a candy, kitschy space of “heroism”, as it was presented by pseudopatriotic mass culture products from TVP, especially during the regulation of the Law and Justice.

Secondly, Poles become opponents of taxes and dans. It is not due to the fact that they have besides become convinced of the libertarians. Most of them would be ready to bear the fiscal burden if they could number on the state and its structures to retaliate. However, how can we convince Poles to pay insurance contributions if the wellness service looks like what it looks like? How can they be justified by the request to pay taxes in a situation where they cannot anticipate their country to comply with its obligations in the field of social policy, that is, simply, to implement the social agreement we have concluded with all of us? Therefore, anti-tax sentiment, not doctrinal or doctrinal, will proceed to grow and grow, but simply situational and rational.

Thirdly, the Polish State has for years no longer offered any thrilling task at the level of objectives, even those distant and imagined. After all, it is the various projects and far-reaching goals, dressed in the robes of captivating ideas, that motivate us to work for any structure of collective life. It has not happened late that, in ongoing wars and conflicts, ideological determination and motivation inactive have meaning, even in the face of a technological advantage and a fire enemy ( Iran is the best example here).

Under these circumstances, the Pole simply cannot be a stateman – again: in a applicable sense, not a certain lofty and most likely close to hearts and minds of many of us ideas of the state. simply breaking the commitments of the 3rd Republic of Poland to him is becoming little and little regarded as a state of ‘his’ and increasingly seen as an enemy instrument of ‘their’. This will be a large problem for all of us in the future. The current meaning void and the contractual unreliability of the Polish state origin further erosion in the eyes of our nation statehood as such. This can lead to intellectual impassion: or to the belief that if the state fails to take the test, it must be replaced by another, more credible, at least at first glance, structure (e.g. the European Union); or anarcholibertarian thought, at all, rejecting the sense of creating state projects and seeking other, frequently rather utopian forms of social organization. All of this “thanks” to those who have been trying to convince us that the plan they invented is simply a Polish state for decades.

Mateusz Piskorski

Think Poland, No. 35-36 (30.08-6.09.2026)