Friday, March 20, 2009

Politics should not be left to the trademark politicians alone

[The single greatest instance of intellectual foolishness today is the continuing pretense that politicians are serious people worthy of serious consideration. They are scoundrels, each and every one, regardless of party (although some of them, it is true, are more scoundrelly than others). For any scholar to pretend that these people are disinterested servants of the public welfare -- to pretend that the words politicians utter or send out in press releases are meant to promote any goal other than politicians' own glorification and pursuit of power -- is for that scholar to be duped to a degree that should be more embarrassing than would be the discovery that that scholar believes the earth to be flat or that Big Foot was in league with Lee Harvey Oswald to murder JFK. Venting (by Don Boudreaux)
from Cafe Hayek by Don Boudreaux]

[As a libertarian, I insist that those of us who believe in free markets, free trade, liberty and property, should NOT vote. The reason for this is simple: We are not allowed to compete for votes in this socialist monopoly of a democracy. The Representation of People Act restricts democratic participation to those who swear by socialism. Since we are avowedly anti-socialist, we are debarred from forming political parties and contesting elections. Why should we vote in such a system? ... They just want us to vote – for some socialist or the other. This is senseless.I stress the word “senseless”: in any true democracy, the voter is assumed to be intellectually capable of voting for the right candidate and policies. The voter is assumed to be possessed of reason. The oft-used term “the wisdom of the voter” is not loose speech. But do our “registered” political parties attempt to appeal to the voter’s reason? No, they don’t. The Congress’ appeal is to The Dynasty, the BJP appeals to Religion. The voter is considered a dodo. This is not a genuine democracy at all. Indeed, with all the “seat sharing” and “elite accommodation” that is going on, it is obvious that there is no genuine competition between the recognized political parties. The entire game is rigged... they have glorified The Leader while at the same time destroying The Nation and the lives of The People. Or should I say “sheeple.” Shut Up And Think, TAAQ
from ANTIDOTE by Sauvik]

[Sheeple - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sheeple is a term of disparagement, a portmanteau created by combining the words "sheep" and "people."
It is often used to denote persons who voluntarily acquiesce to a perceived authority, or suggestion without sufficient research to fully understand the scope of the ramifications involved in that decision, and thus undermine their own human individuality or in other cases give up certain rights. The implication of sheeple is that as a collective, people believe whatever they are told, especially if told so by a perceived authority figure believed to be trustworthy, without processing it or doing adequate research to be sure that it is an accurate representation of the real world around them. The term is generally used in a
political and sometimes in a religious sense... The term may be used derogatorily to refer to members of a church congregation, supporters of a religious-based social movement (such as the Moral Majority or Focus on the Family), cultists, etc., to denounce unquestioning loyalty to an in-group. This usage refers to the herd mentality wherein religious persons think in "Us-Them" divisions along religious and social grounds and instinctively conform to those positions in fear of being shunned by the group as a whole. The term may also be applied to individuals who refuse to question church-group doctrine and who may even deny overwhelming evidence to the contrary of that doctrine.]

Berating politics and the politicians is an easy job. But that they are truly "representative" of people/sheeple is forgotten. All isms and geopolitics are evolving as part of some grand scheme and our present job is to carry them further. In the vision of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo we find the broad strokes. The nitty gritty have to be worked out within and in terms of the “laws of ignorance.” The time is now. There is no future, no past either.

Should we be the slaves of petty advocates, instead of being advocates ourselves of a new order? The task is thus larger leading to "a larger human action," and perhaps can be likened to "the return to earth." Politics should not be left to the trademark politicians alone. Let's all participate to cure it of its untouchability. [TNM]

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