By Banshaikupar Mawlong
“Votes should be weighed, not counted”, so says the infamous legendary dramatist, Johann Friedrich Von Schiller. And two centuries after his death, the words are fuelling the intellectual nourishment tanks of the ‘powerless’ and ‘humble’ around the globe, invoking them to strive for a better political order and catalyzing their fight towards a political system based on reason, moderation, intelligence and prudence. And at no other point in the history of human civilization will these words hold truer than in the present scenario- the century marked by wildfires of political decadence, lack of political ethics, massive abuse of political power, rampant corruption, widespread nepotism, political instability, leaving the common citizens i.e. the source of power and sovereignty, at the receiving end of the cycle of oppression, suppression and exploitation.
The Greeks were the first to introduce the concept of ‘voting’, albeit in a rigid and primitive form, in their ‘democratic’ city-states of Athens and Sparta. But the English liberals walked away with the credit of conceptualizing the modern voting system. They were the first ones to realize the importance and significance of achieving people’s consent, via voting, and granting the people the same for the legitimacy and vitality of the political organism. Nourished by these intellectual developments, democracy becomes the most ‘fought’ after, talked, valued and cherished political system during the last four centuries of the First Millennium.
The great American President Abraham Lincoln aptly defined democracy as ‘the government of the people, by the people for the people’. This definition spells out clearly the supreme power of the people within the democratic set-up. The people are the source of all power within the democratic state. From the Magna Carta of 1215 to the granting of Universal Adult Suffrage by successive democracies (New Zealand having the distinction of being the first Country to grant Universal Adult Suffrage in 1893), people’s power is everywhere to be seen. Lessons are plenty where suppression of people’s power led to political systems crumbling and disintegrating (Arab Spring movements being the recent examples where people’s power triumphed over corrupt regimes).
Borrowing the conceptual and theoretical foundation from Western democracies, the founding Fathers of the Indian State, implanted democracy in the country granting Universal Adult Suffrage to all citizens right from the time of the inception of the Republic in 1950.
The Preamble of the Indian Constitution which reads as: “We, the people of India…” nobly put the people at the top of the hierarchy in the political set-up. Suffrage grants the Indian people their due rights to have their say in the administration of the country, denied to them by two centuries of foreign occupation. A vote is their weapon to fight for their rights and liberties. For the first time in its history the Indian Citizens are armed with a tool to fight against governmental abuses, injustice, inefficiency, corruption and the like. It is an instrument which holds the ‘political class’ accountable to the people. In brief it acts like a shield in a warfare protecting the people against the abuses of governmental power.
Elections are the cornerstone of any democracy. Here people’s power put a fantastic show periodically depending on the type of voting system. In the first- past the post voting system followed in our country, the candidates getting the maximum number of votes (simple majority) is declared a winner that is to say that the number of votes polled matters. Here the question of weighing the votes polled in the elections come into the debate. The question of weighing the votes could be deliberated from two angles. Firstly, in the horizontal plane weighing one’s own votes. And secondly, vertically, weighing the value of one’s votes in comparison to the other’s votes.
Now how do we weigh our own votes i.e. for whom to vote and why? In developing countries like ours where the level of political education regarding the values and principles of liberal democracy is at the embryonic stage, the question of weighing one’s vote from democratic spectacles hardly come into the scheme of things. If present, these considerations get eclipsed by other elements.
The sixty years of parliamentary democracy practices provides ample scope to study the question of electoral behavior in the country. Casteism, communalism, criminalization of politics, mafia power and money power dictate the realm of Indian electoral system. As a result of it, development of political democracy in the country suffers a huge blow. Political democracy gets murdered and voting becomes an instrument to further selfish goals and interests. Welfare of the community, state and the nation becomes secondary to selfish-individualism. National integration gets replaced by ‘parasitic’ regionalism, secularism by dirty communal politics, development of the minority by minority vote bank politics, welfare state by corruption, community interests by selfish-individualism and nepotism and political democracy gets hammered by political corporatism. Our temples of democracy- the legislatures, become opportunity for individuals to further their ends. As a result people’s power gets crucified and democracy (voting) gets transformed to a sacrificial lamb.
Having said so, how we do weigh our votes as having more value than the other? What are the criteria for weighing one’s vote? It is a standard limitation of democracy that despite the magnitude of someone’s opinion or effect on their lives, their vote is equal to any other. We could never agree whose vote should carry more weight. Disclaimer aside, it is still pretty absurd. “Weighed” by whom? Who gets to decide that your vote is better than my vote? Once you’ve decided on that person, why waste your time on the vote in the first place?
Voting is itself a highly dubious proposition. The majority of the people engaging in it don’t know what they’re talking about. Even the ones whom experts would say have the correct opinion often hold it for incorrect reasons. Plato was rightly skeptical of democracy, which he believed would lead to bread and circuses, and in my opinion that’s the fate befalling the world right now.
But as bad as it is, I don’t know a better system. Democracy has a thin merit, the fact that the votes of non-experts often cancel each other out, yielding a victory for minorities who are correct. Truth has an advantage that falsehood doesn’t, even if most people can’t tell the difference.
Our state election is going take place in the coming month. Unfortunately, we are disappointed by both politicians and citizens. The first, are supposed to be smart, well-educated and capable of managing a country (add willingness on top). The second are supposed to have the moral and social conscience (Education) in order to choose the right candidates. The majority of the people prefer a reassuring lie over an inconvenient truth. Rest assured, voting is still handy not only for the health of our political organism but more for the empowerment and development of the state. Our voting instincts should be weighed on consideration of community interests, inclusive development, and responsive, accountable and ethical governance. Citizens must remember that they are voting not only for themselves but for the community as a whole. We are voting to shape our society, polity, economy, and for the future of our children. We should ask ourselves what kind of legacy do we want to leave behind? Intelligence and rationality should take its due place. Change should come from the people not to the people. If we do not, then we needn’t really concern ourselves with the suffering we willingly inflict on ourselves.
A rational populace in the Arab Countries (the Arab Spring) stormed their regime and toppled decades’ rule of their corrupt leaders a few years ago. Should not we learn from them? Should not these historic movements for the empowerment of the people inspire us? Should we choose to let things happen and let our future to being lost one day? We have been taken for a ride for far too long. It’s high time the people weigh their precious and powerful votes. Your votes, my votes must be a revolutionary force in 2013. Break the shackles and tear down the walls. The ‘political class’ must also remind themselves of the events of the past few years in the Gulf region where youth bulge coupled with lack of civil liberties, underdevelopment, poverty, human rights abuses and corrupt administration exploded and the rest is history. And Meghalaya with over 40% educated youth population cannot afford to turn a deaf ear to their (people) voices. Ignoring it would be suicidal or so should it be. To repeat a verse of Tunisia‘s National Anthem – ‘when the people want a better life, destiny has to bow and – If, one day, a people desires to live, then fate will answer their call’. Amen.
(The author is an Asst. Professor of Political Science at Union Christian College and can be contacted at: [email protected])