What an Idea Sir Ji…!!!

There is a TV advertisement that interests me. A hapless politician (who looks more like a lost housewife) is sitting in front of a group of crass and rustic heavyweight, probably kingmakers. She is mentally debating whether she should give in to their pressure of building a SEZ, somewhere in the rural belt. In comes her executive assistant, complete with stubble, safari suit and a pair of glasses, and suggests messaging the junta for opinion. The SMS flows; the junta opines “NO” and the happily-ever-after jingle says “This is what you call Democracy! What an Idea Sir Ji…!”

Just think how many of us would breathe in harmony, if this were to happen for real. Isn’t it like Archimedes’s “Eureka”? A simple solution to the complex framework called Liberty and Democracy; a brilliant way out of the critical issue called voter psyche. Imagine the millions of rupees that can be saved. All the Neta ji needs is to do is to procure a database (he/she can buy it from the credit card selling call-centers) of mobile numbers, bounce every decision off his/her constituency, and all of us can live in a signature John Lennon world – “Imagine all the people, living life in peace…” The first time I saw this ad, I was tempted to ask myself ‘why didn’t anyone think of this before?’

I know it is an alluring idea. But before we run to the record book to etch “an advertisement that changed Indian Democracy, forever”, let us hold on for ten minutes and think - has no one actually tried this idea before (with or without a mobile phone)? The answer might dim our zeal.

In the last quarter of century the USA has added $5 trillion to its gross domestic products, and yet every survey and measure suggests that Americans are no happier than they were, some twenty five years ago. Not only the country is richer, but it is in better shape (that was before the 08 meltdown), in every way. Most Americans barely remember how tattered their economy was, during the early 1970s, due to Vietnam insult, stagflation, oil crises, racial riots and crime. But over the next 20 years, their per capita rose by 50%, crime declined, relations improved and every component of the misery index dropped. Then again, Cold War was won, Communism was destroyed, socialism discredited, and America towered above all. Except that the Americans don’t see it that way.

Simply put, Americans have lost faith in their democracy. Founded as a republic that believed in a balance between the will of the majority and the rights of the minority, America is increasingly embracing the simple minded populism that values popularity and openness as the key index of legitimacy. This ideology has necessitated the destruction of old institutions, the undermining of traditional authority and the triumph of organized interest group, all in the name of “the people”. And the result is a deep imbalance in the system – more democracy, but less liberty. The results shows. Trust factor in government in Washington has come down from 70% in 1960s to 30% in 2000. Voting levels have dropped. Disenchantment with the government is puzzling and points out that something is seriously wrong with their democracy.

So what has made the system decline? Why has public attitude turned around during the middle of 60s and has kept sinking ever since? It is because one big change began during that time, and has continued unchecked – the democratization of politics. Since the 60s most levels of American politics – parties, legislatures, agencies, and courts – have opened themselves to greater public contact, scrutiny and influence, in an effort to become more democratic in spirit. The story there is that the politicians there hardly do anything else but listen to the people.

Washington today is organized around the pursuit of public opinion and sentiments. It employs hordes of people to continually check the pulse of the people in every imaginable manner. It hires others to determine the feelings’ intensity, still others to guess what people might think tomorrow – and all along everyone keeps praising the all-round greatness and wisdom of American people. The problem is, as the pandering has gone up, public opinion towards leadership has gone down. During WWII, Winston Churchill was advised by a colleague in the Parliament to “keep his ear to the ground”. The great man responded by pointing out that “the British nation will find it very hard to look up to leaders who are detected in this position.” Perhaps the American sense that. That is what reflects in common American’s way of voting, response to opinion polls, letters to editors, TV interviews… across all possible channels.

There are thousands of voices on the fact that the quality of political leadership has gone down since the good old days, and that occupies a powerful place in public imagination. Imagine the historic figures like Lincoln, Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower. Then think of George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Madeline Albright. Gives you an idea right? John Kennedy published a book Profiles in Courage in 1956, in which he praised American spokesmen for their principled embrace of unpopular positions:

“(Such) a view assumes that the people of Massachusetts sent me to Washington to serve merely as a seismograph to record shifts in public opinion… The voters selected us because they had confidence in our judgment and our ability to exercise judgment from a position where we could determine what were their own best interests, as a part of the nation’s interest. This may mean that we must on occasion lead, inform, correct, and sometimes even ignore public opinion for which we were elected.”

Back home, and at 2009, whether Kennedy practiced what he preached is not important. Whether our leaders have that amount of political maturity or integrity is. As of today they do not have. So the idea emanating from the cell phone ad might seem appealing. But times are changing. With the likes of Milind Deora or Omar Abdullah emerging in the mainframe, we have plenty to look forward to. Interfacing with public to appear more democratic is tempting, but it can wait for a while. Looking at USA, this kind of an endeavor can prove to be a deceptive made-easy tool.

So? “What an Idea Sir ji”? To my mind, not quite.