In the first Transparency weblogs we highlighted the writings of some thinkers and the actions of some rulers.

We mentioned the writings of Thucydides, Marcus Tullius Cicero and Lucius Annaeus Seneca as well as some acts of government by Sextvs Afranivs Bvrrvs, Enrique I and Juan Sin Tierra.

Today, we will quote 2 more recent thinkers (16th century): Juan de Mariana (1536-1624) and Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645) because of their true writings in relation to what is currently happening in Europe and in the Iberian Peninsula.

Juan de Mariana is the author of two remarkable texts “De monetae mutation” and “Treaty and speech about the copper coin” in which you can read, among others:

2. “But neither the war leader nor the general of the armies (…) (…) can have the private estates”

3. “In truth, that the king is not the lord of the assets of everybody (…) nor can enter into the houses and tenements of his citizens and do whatever he wants”.

3. “When the donkey belongs to many people, wolves eat it”

Finally he appoints that his main goal by writing these sentences is the following:

4. “… this writing will enable people to understand that there will always be somebody fighting for people rights and looking for the true unless the corruption ends.

Francisco de Quevedo is the author, among others, of “Time of all and the Fortune with brain”, “History of the life of the Searcher” and he also owed the following verses:

“pues que da y quita el decoro

y quebranta cualquier fuero,

Poderoso caballero

es don Dinero”

which talks about how powerful is money

Both writers appoint the real danger of the current existence of corruption in the Iberian society: A high % of politicians and Public officers (many of them appointed by belonging to determinate lobbies instead of their merits) that think they can do whatever they want with the money of citizens by using their own positions. This situation takes place because many people does not dare to report, sue or they are even threatened, and as Quevedo said, money is so powerful that they can get most things with it.

For all the mentioned above, the Iberic peninsula will not change (same than in the era of Juan de Mariana and Francisco de Quevedo) as long as the politicians and their officers use their positions to obtain own benefits or promote monopolies, and the media and false businessmen do not complain while await for getting benefits from politicians.

With this scene, it is not strange that cases such as Ibercorp, orphan funds, Official Bulletin of the State, useless infrastructures funded with public money, Spanish agency of the Medicament, banks, credit facilities for Politic parties, and so on, get unpunished while the intellectual authors and most executors keep getting benefits from Public money which comes from people who has been spoiled or media by giving advices on how to handle people.