There are The Politicians and The People.
Politicians are supposed to be altruists and work for the people.
Is that even a sound thought in these days of I-Me-Mine? Only a mentally deranged species will think that!
Democracy was meant to let people delude themselves that they have a say in governance, when in fact they have NO say except voting in the next election years away.
Participative Democracy is but a significant but inadequate improvement over Representative Democracy.
It never said to what extent and in what manner that ‘say’ would manifest. Given that Representative Democracy is in vogue all over the world of democracy, save ONE country where people participate in every single major policy making, the majority of citizens in the world live in the illusion that they have ‘the final say’.
Most western countries have representative systems. Switzerland is a rare example of a country with instruments of direct democracy (at the levels of the municipalities, cantons, and federal state). Citizens have more power than in a representative democracy.
Which brings me to the question. Can we even afford to leave everything to professional politicians?
Ofcourse not, unless one believes we have angels as politicians! In these days of Bishops rapists and Mullahs providing ‘Halala’ to divorced women?
Yet, try making any political conversation even in a heterogeneous group on social media. One will be vilified and trolled as if one had just robbed the community bank!
Why does this happen?
Surprisingly, the answer lies elsewhere. It lies in the unthinking, lazy approach to life people have in general taken. When they want any “change” all they will look out for is a “Messiah” drawn most from a tiny pool of celebrities, film stars, sportspersons, porn stars, reality stars, music & art stars and even local mafia honchos, to name a few.
So we find, especially in developing countries, and of late even in EU & USA (Trump!), such people with little or no exposure to public service or accountable office are elected to top powerful positions. Therein lies the the crux of the problem, making representative democracy dysfunctional.
We know that representative democracy is dysfunctional when an elected representative votes on an issue in a manner directly opposed to what her/his constituents want. Or thinks s/he they’re doing their constituents a favour when they use public funds to create or repair public facilities like parks, play areas for kids, roads or footpaths!
Given every tom, dick and his mother-in-law aspires to get such limitless power once elected, tons of stooges abound around every MP, MLA or Corporator/Panchayat Chief. It’s all about ‘whats in it for me’. Screw the public good. After all, am I not “a” public?!
Such idiotic thinking is seen largely in developing countries, especially in lawless democracy that masquerade as republics.
So what is the solution???
Only a change in the approach and attitude of the people can bring about a sustainable change.
The change in attitude can start with electing people who can show a great deal of public service and who promise to return the power in governance (as distinct from Government) to people through a change in laws, rules etc.
The easiest way is to let people have a say is through introducing mandatory Social Audits in all public works and zoning matters and make the local officials answerable to people not politicians.
India has Article 73 (Panchayats) and 74 (Municipalities) on it’s statute for long. Yet the politicians of the very same party whose PM (Rajiv Gandhi) inserted it, ensured it was sabotaged in totality and converted it into yet one more way the local politician spread his tentacles!
The key remains a change in civil society, not elsewhere. It starts with you.
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I’m on Twitter @jsvasan