Sidaki

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Government

Government is an art, not a science.

In the future, when the curtain closes on this whole shebang, those who look back with the aim of understanding government will realize one thing; good government depends not on rules, laws and procedures but on the character of the ruler.

The problem with laws is that they lack any humanity. They have no conscience and that is why a man in western who steals his neighbour’s chicken will get sentenced to life in prison while the Pattnis and the Somaias get next to nothing. The law is an arse without any guiding conscience behind it.

Laws are written, ostensibly, to protect the weak but we should know that the laws are actually written to serve the powerful. It is the powerful who write these laws so what do you expect. New governments always start well but end up falling into the trap all the rest do. They begin to lean towards autocratic forms and increasingly serving a select group. The group may vary from government to government but it always exists.

It is because of this that experiment of democratic government has, in my opinion failed. It is because of this that voter apathy is on the rise, especially among the more established democracies. The feeling that voting serves no purpose but to give the same batch of autocrats, masquerading as servants of the people, the chance to perpetuate their rule is widespread. We all know this. Think on it, nothing has really changed since our gaining independence. For a moment there was a flash of hope but that’s all it was, a flash. I put it to you that the people in power haven’t really changed. The names have changed, but the people, the ideas, the memes (pronounced meems) are still here.

If it is indeed true that good governance depends entirely on the good character of the rulers, and that the whole machinery of state will be at the behest of the rulers, then it is clear that a great deal of thought must be put into the mechanisms we use to choose our leaders. The idea of a popularity contest must have seemed good at some point in the past but now, with the benefit of hindsight, most will agree that it has failed or at least that it has been subverted.

It has been said that power corrupts. Others have amended that to say that power attracts the corruptible. I tend to agree with the latter. Now reconcile this with the idea of democratic government and you will realize that the only people who run for president are those who WANT to be president and this very trait should count against them. It is quite a dilemma.

I tend to think that our modes of choosing leaders should change. Democracy has at the very least been sabotaged and that the time for something new is upon us. I want good people to run this world. Good people who will do what is right for the majority even if the majority do not agree. Most of you will probably react with disgust at my last statement but I will not retract it.

2 Comments:

  • Excellently put. Leadership should do what is right for the majority even if the majority do not agree.

    Especially in the case where the majority is in blissful ignorance of the nuances of deceison making and its repercussions.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:43 AM  

  • Nice don't mind if I use it in one of my policy classes do you?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:32 AM  

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