ODS's trickle-up effect

Soon after the last parliamentary elections, we wrote about a prominent (unnamed) lawyer who said he voted for ODS, but not because he thought it was any less corrupt than the other parties. No, they're all the same in this respect, he said. But once the politicians take their cut, he said at the time, the trickle-down effect in terms of policies that help the country is a bit better under ODS. Two years later, he and other dyed-in-the-wool supporters of ODS - esp. among small and midsize businessmen - are starting to reevaluate this. ODS is actually worse than ČSSD, many of them say, because ODS is more professional and more thorough in its plundering. Under ODS, there's more trickle up than trickle down, they say, and decisions are based on what is good for ODS, not for the country. A real risk is emerging that many of ODS's core voters will turn on it and become some of its biggest critics.