Not for everyone (part 2)
Again, I have been thinking of the concept of democracy. We’ve got it all wrong.
Democracy shouldn’t mean rule of the majority. The majority is stupid. The majority doesn’t know what it wants. The majority can easily be swayed by propaganda, looks, and oratorical skills. The majority is the reason why most politicians are crooked, slimy creatures. They’re the reason why politicians have toothy grins, and walk around kissing babies and shaking hands with everyone, pretending to be average Joes… And the majority complains later on.
Democracy means rule of the people. It means that the ruling body should be aware of the people’s needs, and should work towards providing them with better living circumstances. It means that the ruling body is not authoritarian. How do you get that? By not letting just anyone vote.
People have proven, over and over, that they are, in general, extremely stupid. Occasionally, an Einstein would come up with a theory of relativity, but apart from that occasional glimmer, nothing…
So, why, I ask, is it that anyone is allowed to vote? Why is it that people are equal? Some people ARE more equal than others. Some people deserve to vote, they know their choices, they’ve studied the candidates’ policies, and have made an educated judgment. Others just vote like their leader tells them, or their minister, or their sheikh. They vote against this person, and for that person depending on who looks better, who pays more, who impresses them.
Can anyone become a university professor? Does every university student earn a degree? Do you just get in a car and drive away? No. No. No.
You apply to become a professor, you sit for exams and write papers to earn a university degree, you take a test to earn your driver’s license.
Same shit.
You want to vote? You’re interested in having a say? Welcome to ramz’s world. It’s not enough to be a citizen. If you’re interested enough, you wouldn’t mind taking a test. Just to make sure, you know. We wouldn’t want to allow IDIOTS to make such a crucial decision on our behalf. You’re not our equals. That’s what I’m trying to say. Equality is a privilege, not a right. To earn your equal standing, take the friggin test.
Ever heard of social security? No? Buzzzzz. You’re out.
Value Added Tax…. is that like a McD’s value meal? Yes? Buzzzz. You’re out.
Where’s the USA? Where’s Israel? Where’s Iraq? Where’s Europe? You don’t know? Hit the road, Ali.
I’m not saying that everyone needs to be a political scientist. However, everyone who wants to be part of the decision-making process must profess some knowledge.
We must build an elitist society, of sorts. I’m not talking about persecuting people, I’m not talking about racism, segregation, or anything like that. We LIVE in an elitist society, let’s go the whole nine yards. Smarter people are in decision making positions already. They’re there because they’re more qualified. Why not have the same thing in elections? Money would no longer play a role. Looks wouldn’t matter. Charm wouldn’t make any difference. It would be all about the politics.
We (or a part of ‘we’) would chose our representatives based on the qualities they profess. We would have people in power that want to serve. Tadaaa. Democracy.
June 25th, 2005 at 11:39 pm
You remind me so much of George Orwell’s Animal Farm! “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”! In fact, Tempestuous Ramz, what you say makes sense… to a certain extent. Transforming society into an elitist one would imply denying the existence of certain categories of people who don’t even know what a pen is, let alone social security, VAT, etc. If it’s true that ‘everyone who wants to be part of the decision-making process must profess some knowledge’… then what do you make of these illiterate people? According to your theory, they are de facto excluded from any participation in their country’s politics. According to the law, they have just as much the right to vote as any other citizen. And in any case, when you remove them and any ’stupid’ and ‘idiot’ people from the “allowed-to-vote list”, there won’t be many left, I can assure you!
I think political awareness is crucial, and it’s what this country is in dire need of. But if the ’smarter people’ who ‘are in decision making positions’ were not even able to agree on a unified history textbook for high school students, how do you expect to achieve any of this? The history of Lebanon ends with the independence tale, and then…nothing, nada, zilch! Everyone lived happily ever after!
Also, corruption must be uprooted for democracy to prevail as you see it. It’s a huge mentality change that must be operated nation-wide with political awareness 101 taught in schools. Then, and maybe then, will all animals be considered (more or less) equal and will we know the true meaning of democracy.
June 25th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
Nice theory in a nice and perfect world. I don’t know if this is meant to initiate debate but here goes anyway:
-Educated individuals do not necessarily have integrity
-Elitism is a slippery slope that inevitably leads to some form of abuse and dictatorship
-Objective sociopolitical knowledge is neither necessary nor sufficient to choose a ruler, for the simple reason that the culprit is not the objective agreed upon information, but the individual often conflicting viewpoints that determine the political inclination of everyone of us..
As a matter of fact, a greater and more complex knowledge is a harbinger of greater discord, just because the number of points is directly proportional to the number
of eventual points of disagreement.
-keep in mind that power is a magnet for corruption as much as it is a corruptor in its own right.
And so on and so forth..
Here lies the heart of the problem from a “philosophical” standpoint if you will, in my opinion at least. The tragedy of our condition is how unique we individually are and how statistics (in other words dysindividualization (?) ) is the only way we can avoid utter chaos.
The best way modern politics found to circumvent this problem was, ironically, to merge the individual into a party and a political agenda, hence governing a statistical entity by another statistical entity.
Us lebanese have not yet achieved this goal, imperfect as it is. We still preactice the cult of the individual, which makes our “democracy” seriously flawed and largely deceptive. And your solution does not do much to solve the problem, I don’t think.
It is an asymptotic curve we’re running after, and the only way this will ever be resolved is when all of humanity acquires a common human consciousness, and the world turns into a sience fiction novel or Orwell’s 1984.
And that’s not something I will ever be eagerly anticipating.
In the meantime we can try and make the best out of all the imperfections we have and observe, either closely or from a distance, how the human story will eventually and ineluctably unfold.
June 25th, 2005 at 11:41 pm
Tempting Tempest, most will find your temper contemptious though… (yes, I’m having fun with words, sue me.)
June 26th, 2005 at 1:59 am
Thanks for chipping in, everyone.
Honestly, I do recognize and believe in the truism “power corrupts”… as well as it’s complement… “absolute power corrupts absolutely” (hence my belief that GOD is corruption incarnate)… back to the topic at hand, though, althouth elitism leads to several other problems, I should clarify that I’m presenting a very general solution, and that I’m not discussing Lebanon in particular (we’ve got some ground to cover before what we do in Lebanon can be called politics)…
I’m just saying that, in general, political awareness is required, and furthermore, it should be a constraint… yes, not everyone who is a citizen should be allowed to vote. Just like not everyone who’s 18 can drive a car. It’s just not fair. Just like we leave the decision-making to elected politicians, the politican-making process should be limited to people who are interested and aware of who they’re voting for.
Follow the leader is something sheep do, not humans. Granted, elitism would panultimatly lead to abuse of power and possibly, the ‘elite’ wanting to allow the ‘non-elites’ to vote (because they’re so easily swayable)… it’s an open-loop.
Bottom line, just like I wouldn’t trust an electrician with my appendix, or a lawyer with my gas leak, I shouldn’t trust everybody with chosing my MPs. People are different. Denying that would be naive. Try as we may, we’re still women and men, straight and gay, black and white While that doesn’t make us more equal than others, our education, and understanding of issues does.
June 26th, 2005 at 3:44 pm
hi
this has nothing whatsoever to do with the post
how come you and all your other blogging lebanese-german friends blog in english and not german? just curious.
June 26th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
I’m not sure which lebanese-german blogging friends you mean, but as for me, I consider English to be a sort of first language of mine, school, uni, and friends… that’s why I blog in English, my german isn’t even close to that…
June 27th, 2005 at 5:35 pm
I think all of you shouldn’t be among those who get to vote!
June 27th, 2005 at 6:52 pm
Oh ok.
I meant the friends you’ve linked to.
I know what you mean about english being an almost first language - e.g. many indians and some africans speak it better than their so-called “native language”…I just didn’t know that Lebanon was one of those non-anglo english speaking countries!
None of the lebanese (out of lebanon) that I’ve met here (germany) speak much english + I never heard of it being an ex-english colony or anything. Hence the confusion. Besides I figured you’re a “german” lebanese and would speak german alongside lebanese etc. etc. etc. : )
June 28th, 2005 at 7:52 pm
Maldoror… in this system of mine, people like you wouldn’t be allowed to think
Anonymous… the friends I’ve linked to are either lebanese, half-lebanese, half-english, and/or have an English speaking audience.
The Lebanese in germany aren’t representative of Lebanese society at all. Let’s not get into that atm.
Lebanon was not an ex-English colony, for one. Lebanon was under the French mandate for a while, but most of the population speaks at least two languages fluently, and typically, they know a third.
I went to an American highschool and university, so, English is my second, quasi-native language. French is my third, but it’s not as good.
I’m not a ‘German-Lebanese’, I was born and raised in Lebanon, and just recently started studying in Germany.
And for the record, NONE of the Indians that I’ve met speak good English.