By Patricia Mukhim
Democracy as a system of governance is not as simple as it is spelt. There are many inherent flaws in the system of election which results in inefficient, incapable people with no understanding of political science or the art of governance getting to bully their way through into the legislature mainly by bribing voters through different methods. The use of the MLA scheme to distribute largesse to the electorate instead of building community assets is one major flaw. But none of the sitting MLAs will contest the use of public money for private political gain, since a sitting MLA uses the MLADS scheme to ensure he/she wins the next elections.
But let me come to the point that is bothering us in this new year – the repeated rape of a minor girl by no less than a legislator who also happens to be a former militant leader who is given full protection by the state and under which cover the man commits a number of crimes. The first question that we are all asking is – Should a former militant even be allowed to contest elections? Is that not a failure of democracy? The second most galling fact is that the man even manages to get elected. How? Some say by intimidation and coercion. That is quite possible given the man’s antecedents and his violent nature. The fact that he was never caught pulling the trigger on anyone does not absolve him of the crime because it was on his orders that so many innocents were killed in broad daylight.
The other depressing aspect of democracy is that it is very anti-women. Look at the present scenario! Not a single MLA has come forward to voice his/her concern against the rising sexual violence against the girl-child and against women as a category. All the Opposition parties are interested in is the stepping down of the Home Minister, HDR Lyngdoh. But is that all that matters? Have they demanded that fast track courts be put in place to try all cases of sexual violence (rape, molestation etc.,). Have they even once raised the question of how many rape cases are pending in Meghalaya and why so? The fact of the matter is that anything pertaining to the general welfare of women and girls is not a matter of serious concern to pour legislators. Even the issues of poor nutrition and lack of access to health care especially for pregnant and nursing mothers is never raised in the Assembly. In fact the August House has become male-centric and addresses only politically savvy issues such as bringing a no-confidence motion against the ruling government. Is this why we have elected our legislators? And then many of them don’t even speak at all even though their being in the Opposition is a great opportunity to address the litany of issues that afflict this state and its people.
If legislators were concerned about fate of the people who elected them they would have protested at the very short duration of the legislative sessions. But it appears that even a week is too much for many of the MLAs who remain absent or totally mute when in the House. We the people of Meghalaya are doing a great disservice to ourselves and if we don’t wake up in 2018 we will be sleepwalking into a very grim future.
Democracy does require from its citizens some qualities without which it is sure to fail. One prime criterion is that voters exercise reason at the time of voting and not be (mis)led by trivial issues.
Bryan Caplan in his book, “The myth of the rational voter,” says that democracy becomes a failure because of the interaction between self-interested politicians and bureaucrats, well-organized rent seeking special interests and a largely indifferent general public. Caplan, places the blame for democratic failure squarely on the general public. He emphasizes that politicians are often caught between a rock and a hard place. Thanks to their advisors, they know what policies would be generally beneficial, but they also know that those policies are not what people want. Thus, they are balancing between a good and bad economic policy. The good one so that they do not get voted out of office because of slow growth, and the bad one so they do not get voted out of office because of unpopular government actions.
Caplan further says the main criticism of democratic governments is not that voters lack information but that that they badly interpret and judge the information they do have. He says the problem lies in the fact that the relative cost of learning about a particular issue is very high compared to the cost of not knowing that information. This becomes an issue when those ignorant people vote, which they will do because of the good feeling it gives them.
Scottish historian Alexander Tytler writes that a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote largesse for themselves from the public treasury. Tytler says, “Democracy evolves into kleptocracy. It is a majority bullying a minority which is just as bad as a dictator, communist or otherwise, doing so. Democracy is two coyotes and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.”
As far as morals are concerned, democracy follows the doctrine of moral relativism where no particular moral code is privileged by any form of reasonable evidence or argumentation to be true or more worthy; only what a particular group of people, mainly the voters would agree to value, is to be given any value. In our situation we have seen that while people have a problem with most politicians and accuse them of large scale corruption during their respective tenures, the irony is that they continue to vote the same individuals. It’s almost like the Stockholm Syndrome where the tormented victim falls in love with the tormentor. How do we interpret voter behavior then?
Changing voter behavior is perhaps the toughest challenge ever but not impossible provided voters are shown the benefits of voting in a particular direction. No one has so far taken pains to do that hand-holding process in the long term. Will concerned citizens invest their time, money, effort and more in this endeavour? Let’s see who sticks their necks out!