Decide! (''Decidere!'') was an Italian

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

political association established and led by

Daniele Capezzone Daniele Capezzone (born 8 September 1972) is an Italian journalist and former politician. From 14 July 2001 to 4 November 2006, he was secretary of the Italian Radicals, a liberal, pro-market economy, libertarian movement associated with the T ...

. The group was sometimes also referred to as ''Decidere.net'', in reference to its official website. It was one of the founding members of

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia ...

party. Capezzone was later appointed spokesman of the new party.

History

Decide! was launched in June 2007 by

, former secretary of the

Italian Radicals The Italian Radicals ( it, Radicali Italiani, RI) is a liberal and libertarian political party in Italy. Founded on 14 July 2001 with Daniele Capezzone as their first secretary, the party describes itself as "''liberale'', ''liberista'' nd''li ...

and member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon ...

for the

Rose in the Fist The Rose in the Fist ( it, Rosa nel Pugno, RnP) was a political alliance of parties in Italy. The RnP was composed of the Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI; a social-democratic party led by Enrico Boselli and Roberto Villetti), the Italian R ...

, before leaving both. At the beginning the association was affiliated neither to

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...

The Union The Union may refer to: Politics * The Union (Germany) or CDU/CSU, the partnership of the German political parties the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union * The Union (Italy), a former coalition of political parties in Ital ...

, from which Capezzone hailed, nor to the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and m ...

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/ Pole of Good Government and the Pol ...

, but it seemed definitely closer to the latter. Capezzone himself became closer to

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

's leader

and was harshly critical of

Prodi II Cabinet The second Prodi government was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days. The 59th cabinet of the Italian Republic, it was the only cabinet of the XV Legislatu ...

, which he did not support anymore. Decide! was officially presented to the public on 3 September 2007 and organized two major rallies: the first one on pensions (

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 22 September) and the second one on taxes (

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, 29 September). On 7 November Capezzone finally left the Italian Radicals and the Rose in the Fist. On 12 May 2008 Capezzone was appointed spokesman of Forza Italia. A year later, after that he had led Decide! into

led by Berlusconi, Capezzone was appointed spokesman of the new party.

Ideology

The association had a political platform based on 13 points, which included a

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressiv ...

at 20%,

fiscal federalism As a subfield of public economics, fiscal federalism is concerned with "understanding which functions and instruments are best centralized and which are best placed in the sphere of decentralized levels of government" (Oates, 1999). In other words, ...

presidentialism A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separation ...

and

first-past-the-post electoral system In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast the ...

liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...

s and

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

s. The association had its focus principally on economic issues and had ties with the

Bruno Leoni Institute The Bruno Leoni Institute, named after philosopher and scholar Bruno Leoni, is an Italian libertarian think-tank promoting classical liberal ideas in Italy and in Europe. It was founded in 2003 by three libertarian scholars Carlo Lottieri, Albe ...

and the

Italian Liberal Party (2004) The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano; PLI) is a minor liberal political party in Italy, which considers itself to be the successor of the original Italian Liberal Party, the Italian main centre-right liberal party that was ...

Members

Leading members of Decide! included

Giovanni Orsina Giovanni Orsina (born in 1967 in Rome) is a full professor of Contemporary History at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome. His main fields of research and teaching are the history of political parties, comparative history of European political s ...

Giancarlo Pagliarini Giancarlo Pagliarini (born 23 April 1942) is an Italian politician. Born in Milan, he was later elected to the Italian Senate for Lega Nord in 1992 and re-elected in 1994, then elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1996 and in 2001. He was Minis ...

, and

Andrea Romano Andrea Romano may refer to: * Andrea Romano (voice director) (born 1955), American casting director, voice director and voice actress * Andrea Romano (politician) (born 1967), Italian politician * Andrea Romanò Andrea Romanò (born 23 July 1 ...

.List of members from the official website
/ref>

References

{{reflist Libertarianism in Italy 2007 establishments in Italy