Jarosław Kaczyński Quotes

But we can ask the public what it wants. What kind of Poland? Is it the one which we had, or the one which is ahead of us. Poland – let me repeat again – of security, freedom, equality, justice and solidarity.

Dear all, the rule of law is not something you can declare, decree even in the Constitution. It is an attribute of some form of social organization. The fundamental element in this type of organization is with the balance of power. If a certain social force enjoys a great superiority, it will always instrumentally dominate the law. It will always bring it under its own control. There is no other way. It is the balance that is needed.

The road ahead is clear and its destination is more than just a mandate. We aim higher; we want to change Poland. We want to improve Poland to enable our entire nation to make use of its full potential, so that we can move forward and eliminate the divisions between us and our western neighbors. Our ultimate goal is strong and successful Poland!

The program of deep changes in our country will not slow down, on the contrary — there cannot be any talk about reaching an agreement with powers that for years treated Poland as their own private loot.

Major changes are required in the education – we need to raise our behavioral standards; we need to instill the essential sense of identity. We cannot succeed without our identity and we learnt that from other countries’ experience. Those that succeeded have built strong unity, whereas our unity has been consistently destroyed over the last 20 years.

In Russia, the media feeds people with messages that have nothing to do with reality – even being a brutal and crude denial of it – and we also have media [in Poland] that work at least similarly. The media is a major constraint on our public debate.

I had said we would face an uphill battle and that stones would be thrown. We are being attacked internally and from the outside ... in ways that discount the reality and aim to demean ... Poland. It's easy to serve the interests of the most powerful. If you want to serve the society, the nation, it's much more difficult.

We must unite as a nation. Unity is a state of awareness, but it also needs to reflect on the real aspects of life, such as fair distribution of goods and the equality of rights. Such equality does not exist in today’s Poland, and there is no justified distribution of goods. We know that the distribution of goods cannot be equal at all times, but it must be justified by appropriate norms. We must remember that unity exists when everyone can rely on support in good times as well as in the times of hardship. We must build this unity.

The first is of a historical and moral nature. It has roots in the history, tradition, language, culture, cultural codes, a common understanding and understanding of meaning. This legitimacy is immensely important, relating to public awareness, but if you look at Poland, Polish tradition, it also refers to some very specific demands, translating into concrete demands. It is the demand for freedom, equality and justice.

I understand people curse. I do it myself in stores, although of course I am aware that my situation is very different and I do not even try to compare myself and my financial situation to those who earn an average or little income.

I will return to freedom, equality, justice and solidarity. Let us ask, what is the inverse to those terms. They are the reverse to one principle, which unfortunately in today Poland, still has not been eliminated. This is the principle of who the stronger, the better.

A country is not only an organization covering a given territory. The state is and should be a moral quality. We have addressed this for a long time, for over twenty years. Now, I will repeat it again. This moral quality, expressed by other means, determines the legitimacy of the state.

In the EU there is a rule: who is stronger is better. And because Germany is strongest, the old German concept – a concept that can be called neo-imperial – holds sway. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wants to build a superstate of world importance under German leadership.

Today, when it comes to modern states, this legitimacy breaks down to at least five types. These include external security, internal security, in the modern state, especially social security, as well as commercial and economic security. Finally, the security that every state must provide to its citizens as it guarantees to itself. The state is also a dispenser of goods. And all of these processes, which are associated with the use of coercion and distribution of goods may deviate to a form of pathology and can lead to various kinds of abuse. That is why we have to treat the fifth type of security very seriously. I think we can say that what Poles expect today from the state is security, freedom, equality and justice, which in Poland is always linked with solidarity. These are particularly important expectations.

Unity is also our health service. (...) We can make it better if we change the way of thinking. The health service must be about treating patients, not just providing a paid service. Doctors have a duty to treat patients. Although money is a part of such treatment, it must remain a secondary factor, because the health service must put patients’ interests first.