Democracy is Too Nice

image from the brilliant Wisdom on Wheels

Democracy is too nice. Everyone has a say and everyone has a in on how to handle things. This, generally, is a very good thing. But when things hit a rut, and quick decisions are needed, democracy can fail spectacularly. Just take whats going on in the Euro zone right now. No one can foresee a proper decision coming out of the region in time to avoid an economic crisis of massive proportions. Cronyism in Europe was helped along by the state. The imbalances created by the Euro zone’s formation coupled with a free spending, free borrowing approach has landed some of its less well off countries like Italy and Greece in hot water.

If they (the Euro officials) had acted fast they could have maybe stemmed everything at the start. They had several options on what to do and arguably any one of them would have worked, the climate at the time just required any action, just something to bring back investor confidence, but instead its powers started bickering. And the Euro-bickering is still going on, with no end in sight. This has led Paul Krugman to predict a massive scale bank run and plenty of other apocalyptic financial predictions from virtually every corner of economic thought.

Or, if you think the Euro example does not quite relate, think back a few months to when people were on pins about the US debt ceiling. From the beginning it was obvious that the ceiling was going to be raised. The US could take no other possible route. But parliamentary opposition from the Republicans created a heavy battle over tax cuts and entitlement reductions. The conditions were ultimately agreed to and the debt ceiling was raised. But the political opportunism probably didn’t help the US one bit when it comes to planning out a viable future strategy to recover its economy from the doldrums.

Poor, third world, developing (you pick the name) countries on the other hand, are always in a rut. They continuously face challenges and opportunities that require quick and intelligent action to mitigate or make use of. They are mostly desperate for hand holds to grow and if properly motivated and managed can become powerhouses very fast. Cases in point are Singapore and Malaysia who rose to stratospheric success in a very short time. Both of the above had intelligent, strategic but autocratic regimes. China is currently a pseudo autocracy (meaning it’s an autocracy but you can’t say it out loud) and it has so far managed its economy remarkably well.

What Do The People Want?

Democracy encourages countries to do what the people want. but in countries urgently in need of development, what the people want and what the country needs can be entirely different. Take Sri Lanka for instance. What do people want? Ideally they want free education, easy subjects and a guaranteed government job. Oh and free food stamps, low transport costs and cheap fuel. They also want no taxes, more subsidies and higher pensions. All this of course cannot happen at the same time.

For the country to develop, conversely, everyone must work hard, and everyone must sacrifice a few things. French-style decadence can come later. When your parent’s generations have become fat on economic riches and you can afford to work just 30 hours a week if you feel like it, or spend your time in roadside cafe’s smoking and drinking coffee on a government dole if you don’t.

In Sri Lanka political parties basically do what people want and skim off the top. At least, this is what they’ve been doing for a while now. If they’re not reducing bread/fuel/fertilizer prices before the election they’re promising more government jobs or cutting taxes. In fact it can be argued that our model of democracy has actually held back progress, by people getting the politicians they deserve. If the people have no long term vision for growth, then it is hardly likely that politicians with a long term vision for growth will arise out of a democracy consisting of these people.

A more centrally powerful government can ignore the short term wants and needs of people and give them what is really needed for long term growth. It can cut government jobs, privatize, cut taxes and increase investment. It can invest more in education, training, transport infrastructure and gross domestic capital.

A strong state is a strong state whatever model it uses to get there. Going by the above hypothesis, stronger states in lesser developed countries are generally autocratic, meaning there is a trade-off between development and liberty. But this doesn’t mean people are necessarily oppressed. All states, even autocratic states, desperately need majority corporation to actually develop, provided development is a strong objective and so will try to please as many people as they can while they work around the ones they can’t please. To paraphrase Bob Marley ‘you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all the people all of the time.’

Democracy is an ideal. It is never really completely achieved, always remaining in its purest form unreachable. But the world remains fascinated by its appeal and the very word is taken to be synonymous with freedom and development. But history has shown that not to be the case and a careful look at past experiences and current events tells us that maybe it’s time we started looking at and accepting the presence of more mixed forms of government that are geared for development, inclusive in their own way but constantly changing and adapting to conditions on the ground.

Un-Meritocratic Police

I have a friend who wants to join the police. He is about 22 and holds a high office in the student council of a local university. He is good in sports and has great leadership qualities. More importantly for him, he has a degree and that is something you definitely need if you, like him, are going to apply for the post of ASP. Assistant Superintendent of Police. He’ll have a 50k plus salary, house and car with driver and other significant perks that come with the job. Not bad.

But you might say hold on, can a twenty two year old actually aspire to such a high post in law enforcement fresh out of university? Apparently yes. You need no on the job experience or previous training. Any fresh faced graduate with a 34 inch chest and above average in height can make it in, theoretically. What happens to the police force here? Incentive structures get skewed. You’re average ralahami will not be inclined to stop taking bribes and clean up his act because he basically has nothing to look forward to, the maximum the majority of them can expect to rise up to will probably be the rank of sergeant.

OK, say the system works. Maybe the police need to make sure that their top echelons are qualified and refined. Intelligence and leadership skills guaranteed from a young age so that they can be groomed early to provide a refreshing effect. But selections here are again not based on merit but on political favor. My friend for instance considers his number one asset to be his political connections. All of the rest are basically secondary. Only around twenty to thirty get picked every three years, so you can imagine the level of wrangling involved. The politicians pick the cops, no going around that one.

Will i vote, wont i vote, will i vote, wont i

Stick it to the uncle (Reuters)

Will i though? That’s highly doubtful. yes i know all you democracy wonks love to vote. You think voting is the highest calling of citizenship. But taking pills is not the epitome of good health, staying fit is, when the body is sick, medicines dont matter, thats not the way to solve a problem. Medicine is for people in denial.

Its funny, i can’t seem to attach so much importance to voting anymore. The medicine i think will no longer work. The body has decided where to go, its sick and the doctors can say whatever the hell they want, its gonna go on doing what its doing. It refuses to take exercise. If democracy is the darling of the modern political aesthetic, then our system is the middle aged uncle dancing the baila in microscopic strokes to a beat hidden deep in the music that only few can hear. He’s obese and happy about it, he is a fat model in a world full of anorexic teenage girls.

This system might work. Old, fat uncles are probably good at many things that teenage girls aren’t. But you can’t put the same moves on both of them. That is assuming you want to put the moves on an uncle in the first place. Right now our system is more old fat uncle than teenage girl. Are you getting this? Am i coming through here? i suppose that’s too much to ask.

But yes, it is crunch time. I was anyway planning on being out of Colombo tomorrow but that might not happen. So there is a very real possibility that i will be within the city but still missing a purple stinky pinky. Oh yes, i’m real bad.

None of the candidates have impressed me really. there’s Moragoda with all his fancy marketing, but he’s tried that before, and Colombo fell into his lap. But then all he turned out to have is good PR. How will that be different this time around? I guess we can wait and see. The UNP, what the UNP is still around?, is barely around.

Instead there are flocks and heaps and herds and masses of career politicians emerging everywhere. They’re crawling out of the wet works. Every Lani, Pani, Ravi and his sister’s estranged husband wants a piece of the cake. You can see the gleam in their eyes. The polished speeches, the rote promises. They’re playing it safe, using the same old methods to dupe the poor people, why fix something that aint broke?

So I’m inclined to suspend judgement. I won’t participate in the process because i am ambivalent. I’m the guy who will go along with what everyone else decides because i plainly can’t see a difference between any of them, and there is no color it is all only gray. So I vote for gray, this better pay.

The Way Of Kings

Cover Art by Michale Whelan

Or.. there is no escaping escapism, at least for me. The Way of Kings is one of the best High Fantasy books I’ve ever read. Its got the usual mixture of kings and court intrigue, heroes with special powers and weird magic systems. Elements so hackneyed that they can easily get boring in the hands of lesser writers.

But Sanderson works them like a man making extremely complicated looking pottery with clay. The clay the elements, the book the extremely complicated bit of pottery, just to make sure you’re with me here.

There are powerful shin warriors that walk on walls, float and are lifelong slaves to cruel masters. More slaves in the form of strange black and red marbled humans who are generally demure but who also sport a mysterious warrior like alternate community that wages war against a corrupt and power hungry human (and probably Caucasian) feudal power structure to bring on confusion and the emergence of chaos.

Add that to a mysterious past, strange talk of ‘Voidbringers’ and constant storms that are like tsunamis in the sky that strike without warning and bring strange visions along with them and you’ve got some curiosity going. Dying people say strange things as they give up their life, scholars search for answers in mouldy libraries and a general begins to realize that maybe the shit is just about to hit the fan. Anyway, just read the synopsis on the wiki page will you. Its the first book of a planned ten. Should be interesting.

This could also have been a post about Mahinda Rajapaksa (I was told specifically that his name ends with an ‘a’ and not an ‘e’) but what is there to be said? I’m kind of tired of Mahinda and the whole court politics arena. Mervyn’s been appointed into post that needs a lot of people skills, again. The man’s got people skills alright, just not with an ‘s’ most of the time.

I am also glad that taxes have increased on cable TV. Maybe the government has finally realized that TV is opium. But then again local TV is still tax free. Maybe its the brand of opium that matters. Ganna ape they, they said. Taxes for liquor and cigarettes are up. I’d probably be complaining about that too if i was a drinker. But This way the less gatherings i attend with alcohol in them the less slurred conversations i have to pretend to be interested in. Cigarette price hikes are not going to help me quit smoking, no, that struggle must be waged within. Give me a few moments while i clench my jaw and glare intensely at that spot on the floor for effect.

So does the mathata thitha policy mean that the president nor his brothers ever drink? That’s always been a burning question. It finally birned through my skull onto paper, and now its lying there like an ember.

The Common Good (and other Fairy Tales)

Following is a brief synopsis of the history of economics as i understand it together with a subjective viewpoint on its inherently oppressive nature. This viewpoint as written below does not necessarily reflect my personal opinion on economics, it is simply a viewpoint, that should stand alone in its own right.

-The Raj

Since industrialization humans have focussed on getting more efficient, becoming more profitable. I shouldn’t say humans in this regard, for it is mostly the capitalists who expound such thought processes into practical application. Economics after all, cannot be taken away from the self interest of its proponents, and when brought into the fray of politics, self interest largely depends on who is in power. And, money being tantamount to nearly everything in entering politics, most modern democracies flout the interests of capitalism over ‘what is good for the masses’. Of course this is cleverly disguised, more so from the politicians themselves, but GDP is not a measure of quality of life. Getting richer as a country, with it’s complete wealth distributed according to the laws of the Pareto Principle, is questionable as a purpose of being. Most modern economies can be highlighted as examples.

The prevailing ‘what is good for the powerful is good for the economy’ philosophy can be easily illustrated with simple look at the history of economics. Initial feudal establishments (which were centered around the absolute power of the landowning class and its default omni-ownership of all capital) crumbled with the increase of trade and the appearance of ‘marketplaces’. This only exacerbated with colonialism and eventually led to the Merchant class surpassing in wealth the landowning overlords of feudalistic society. Eventually, the reign of Merchants was the norm.

Mercantilism

‘Mercantilism’ was their philosophy. Mercanltilists were of the opinion that to prosper, a nation must sell more than it buys. In other words, its exports must exceed its  imports. This kind of thinking will seem absurd in the modern day world with interdependencies among nations causing more deficits than surpluses. A system like that cannot survive, for the simple reason that were every country in the world to follow identical princples, trade would simply halt! leading to eventual collapse of the system. As it happened Mercantilism survived for a long while, primarily due to cheap resources readily available from colonized nations and also by oppression of its own country’s peasant class, and economies in that day were controlled more by guilds of merchants that functioned more like cartels; monopolizing trade and commanding prices. Not very good for the quality of life of your average peasant, I would say.

Moving on, the rise of capitalism happened when the industrialists got into the game. They were a class of people who believed in the use of capital to control the arena of trade. They would supply capital to small scale artisans and contract merchants to sell them. This practice formed the basis of what would become the modern company.

Capitalism

‘Capitalism’ full blown, had names like the Dutch and British East India Companies as its flag bearers.  They allowed joint stock ownership and modern share markets found their origin here. They used their vast capital and trade monopolies to import cheap and sell dear. Making their owners’ wealth increase to previously unimagined proportions. Along with the emergence of capitalism, the seeds of the destruction of mercantilism were sown. Some advantage was gained to the common man with the abolition of protectionist measures like monopolies. And free market systems ensured competitive prices but along with its advantages the market economy also increased the sense of work ethic. Previously idyllic lives were now to be spent slaving at factories and workplaces eking out a living.

This hasn’t changed much. In the world of globalization and international trade, corporate interest is the main driving force behind ‘growth’. Obama treads lightly with BP because Obama possibly knows who has a fatal but light grip on his balls. The ecosystem and the small people making a living off it are not really significant. And this is not really a one off example. Trade barriers, free markets, international trade agreements, multinationals etc are all ‘good for growth’ but not really good for the increment of the quality of life of the small man. At least, such increment does not make the betterment of the common good its priority. Leading us to question the validity of the whole system, and our perceptions of human nature.

Hunting by Proxy

I have often wondered why we work. Having to work for a living may make us fell part of Civilization, a part of the world. It may make us feel like we’re Contributing to Society but all it does is make us animals in the end. We’re all just animals.

Dreams when i was 18 imagined myself at 25 wearing Prada suits, working in London, climbing the corporate ladder. I’d roll with catwalk models in BMWs and be a young prodigy set to become CEO at 30.

Looking back at me when i was 18, and comparing him to me now. The only difference is that i think differently. people don’t look at what they can do for the world, they only look at what the world can do for them.

In economics, the Invisible Hand does just this. It takes self interest and makes something that is for the collective good; like business. Businesses start out of self interest but through providing access to cheaper goods and services, they make lives better. If a system works properly then self interest helps the collective whole, at least, it doesn’t hinder it.

That is the way of nature anyway, the lion hunts to feed, the deer dies to preserve enough grassland for the rest of the herd. Are freemarkets natural systems then?  I guess they are as close to natural as we can get, barring certain abominations like banks. But are human systems ever completely natural?

This train of thought takes me to thoughts of political systems and the Sri Lankan one in particular. Democracy is meant to be a market system. Where demand dictates supply. But its inefficiencies make it the worst market system imaginable, and not only because there is such a time lag between matching the needs of the people  with governments or because the accuracy of matching needs depends so much on the intelligence and morals of the people elected, its a system where companies control consumers; an enforced monopoly of sorts. Politically, we are barely into the Mercantilist era.

 I suppose in Sri Lanka democracy and governance is not looked upon as a market system at all. Maybe thats a problem. But thats an interesting train of thought to follow up on, maybe later.

Back to a company. Which is a money making machine, working in one makes you a cog in the machine, in a sense. I am however a bit tired of being that cog for now, and need to experience something more hands on. Working here has made me feel a little hazy. There is like a mist that has settled over my mind that refuses to dissipate.

Same Same, But Different

Lincoln, by Dali.

In our confused drive to believe in ‘equality’ we have confused equality with similarity. In our efforts to treat everyone and everything as equals, we have tried to make things easy by ignoring the differences and focussing on the similarities, to the exclusion of those differences almost completely.

We are not homogenous. we are a mix of several rich and diverse things. Black people, brown people, women, men,  Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, Christians, fair people, dark people, rich people, poor people, selfish people, rude people, beggars, executives etc. At times these differences really don’t mean anything, but at times they do.

Secularism is a nice concept. It requires people to focus on commonalities when working together, and requires them to keep their differences to themselves. But people interact on all sorts of levels. And beliefs are not just limited to organized religion. And politics are the manifestation of our worldviews, which are based on our beliefs. Then secularism becomes a very porous border no?

So we’re not all the same. But we’re not all that different either. We’re on that dynamic gray line that shifts between white and black on a constant basis. Individual humans are capable of identifying with this, and acting on it. We have no problem of accepting the fact that everyone we meet needs to be treated subtly differently, and we do so everyday. The problem happens when we get together.

Humans collectively are far less intelligent that humans alone. When we’re together, the instinct is to generalize. Societies make decisions based on generalizations, as opposed to individual humans. This is of course probably because the impacts of these decisions affect society as a whole as opposed to indivuduals. But in doing so, society has created a world that is still too rigid for individualism to survive beyond a set non-criminal boundary.

In making these collective decisions there is far too much left unsaid. The need is to keep things simple. And this is understood. There is no way of conveying, amalgamating and transmitting all the collective nuances of mind a group of people will possess all at the same time. Our skills of communication still restricts a vast portion of our thoughts, perceptions and ideas to the realm of the inexplicable.

So we know that the world is colored grey but we have no choice but to look at it in terms of black and white. We work together and we are forced to alter our perception of reality in order to try to make a system that does the best things possible for the most amount of people it can.

That is a sad consequence of being human. Can technology help? Cos evolution didn’t. We’ve always been the same throughout history; the winners still write it.

Meh Democracy

WPC Ballot Card - Pic by Indi

For a successful election good voter turn-out is essential. An enthusiastic and motivated public is a key factor for a nation that is embarking on a fresh beginning and a new period of it’s history. But for voter enthusiasm to be there; politicians and voters should want the same thing. Unfortunately, with Sri Lanka’s general elections around the corner, there is still a large gap between the expectations and wants of the public and the politicians.

The War

The end of the war is a good thing for the country. But it’s very bad for short-termist politicians. War creates ample room for all forms of corrupt activities like siphoning off of state funds, operation of complex narcotic networks, engagement in general thuggery etc. In 1984 by George Orwell, the government purposely maintains a war (or an illusion of its existence) in order to control the public through the means of fear and by instilling in them a need to suffer in order to be patriotic.

When the blanket of war is taken off the people will have a brief period of relief where the opportunity to breath the very air of freedom will be something they are grateful for. But soon, as freedom begins to be taken for granted, they wake up and start smelling the garbage. The prices of goods, corruption of the powerful, public services etc. have already begun to be discussed in households across the country.

Disconnection

Most of the government propaganda flowing out of temple trees is still based on building its image as a victorious dispeller of terrorism. They seem to be as yet unaware that the public focus has already shifted towards their daily bread and that the end of the war is now a phenomenon that the adaptable people of Sri Lanka are fast taking for granted.  But the whole farce that happened with the abolishment of the budget is a strong indicator that the government very well knows that revealing financial incompetence now will not do them any favours in the elections.

The opposition is no better. Actually they are far worse. They should be talking this opportunity to revitalize themselves and position themselves as an entity capable of diplomatically guiding Sri Lanka successfully through the minefield that is the post war economy. Instead they spend time whining and stupidly contradicting every single government policy that is put forward, even the good ones. Like the current directive to reduce interest rates for example.

Failed elections won’t mean sudden unprecedented dramatics like the lack of a government of course. People will vote, albeit in smaller numbers, but they will only vote out of a disjointed sense of affiliation with the current political rhetoric.

The election will not be a milestone in Sri Lankan post war political history. There will be no party that will be successful and more stable because there is no party that speaks what the public needs to hear. Nevermind if they actually deliver or not. There will be no vision for the nation, and no vision means no real progress in any direction.

Gay Profanity

It surprises me the amount of people there are out there who claim to respect gay people but still use the word ‘gay’ as a derogatory. Like that show is gay or those pants are uber gay. amazing phenomenon.

on an unrelated note, my appearance on the kottu print edition got me no end of lecturing at home. all about how i shouldn’t diss the president directly and how i should watch out for kidnappings and assault etc. i felt like a right royal down and dirty street fighting journalist, almost like Dinindu De Alwis. So thanks indi. Here’s to more newspaper write ups.

But seriously, my experience and Ahamed Nizar‘s probably shows how much fear there really is out there when it comes to speaking up. we might hapr about how much this is a free country and still a democracy but the government’s fear machine has done its job well. Its targeted the people strategically.

anyone who speaks up or talks about the powers that be in anything other than flattering terms is a walking dead man, or thereabouts. big brother is watching you, or in this case, a whole range of brothers, and a son or two to boot. now im not saying that really happens, there are much worse things written in the papers about the prez than what i jotted down, and obviously my mom panicked because it was me who wrote it, but still.

Orweillan take on opression of free speech

Sri Lanka plays hardball with IMF

Sri Lanka will not accept any conditions on a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the island’s president has said.

“We will not pawn or sell our motherland to obtain any monetary aid,” said Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Sri Lankan government is in talks with the IMF about a $1.9bn (£1.4bn) loan to help combat the economic downturn and pay for reconstruction.

The IMF usually insists on conditions for any emergency loans.

No forced measures

These involve taking steps such as cutting public spending or raising interest rates.

But Sri Lanka has made it clear…. (more at BBC)

Hmmm.. no  I have not got many thoughts there. As of late the West seems to have simpered a bit to the war efforts and have indicated a lot more support than they used to. With Hillary Clinton’s call to the president and her supposed ‘support extended with regard to the ‘humanitarian improvements’ and the elimination of terrorism etc. I still have the Derana News Alert on my phone.

Except she didn’t. Well she did call him but internet news reports seem to deny the fact that she had anything good to say, while some others agree a little more with the Temple Trees version of the tale. This phone conversation and what was really said and implied could play a big role on our future relations with the West and entities such as the IMF and World Bank.

SL is very much an import dependent economy for many of its basic essentials and therefore foreign help in terms of loans, exports tariffs, trade deals etc are essential to its survival. And these rarely come completely devoid of conditions. It seems in a polarized world, the only way to maintain true independence is to have a completely closed economy or be the strongest player around. Since we’re nothing of either, it looks as if we will have to go through some changes based on the whims of others soon enough.

But obviously, the government will not make it look like they were ‘conditions’ when they implement them in the economy oh no. And since we seem to have pretty much of a dormant opposition it looks like the real news of what is going to happen in the in the future may not be too clear till months later. By which time it’ll be too late to do anything about it. Not that anything much could be done about it anyway. But at least we’ll know.