Democracy, conceptually challenges, basic human intelligence and wisdom. The power of majority can alter facts. Falsehood can prevail, if the majority support it. As a child had watched a satirical play by the famous playwright, Khawaja Moinuddin sahib, where in the play, by virtue of the majority vote, a classroom of adults, voted that the Mughal ruler Nur al-Din Muhammkad Salim Jehangir was the father of Jalaluddin Akbar. Democracy is that travesty that recognises and bestows legitimacy to false absurdities and distorted representation of facts.
“The masses are the material of democracy, but it’s form - that is to say, the laws which express the general reason, justice and utility - can be rightly shaped by wisdom, which is by no means a universal property (Ameil Henri). The British prime minister, Clement Attlee, a politician of great knowledge and wisdom, aptly said, “democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking”.
In democracy it is a given thing, that nobody is silent. All speak. Mostly gibberish. In the worst circumstances the democrats also speak on the parliament floor; from the most literate to the illiterate, from the peasants to the landed aristocracy; from the labourers to the capitalists and from the rustic rural to the self-styled elite urbanites speak - speak they must , and that unfortunately is referred to as “Husn (beauty) of democracy “. Garbage.
Democracy doesn’t mean that all men are equal- each voter is different, unique and distinctive. Essentially, all unequal(s) join together to select a person, from their constituency, who could either be literate or totally illiterate. In democratic elections, the number and count are important than any ability, skill or talent. A person with negative personality traits stands a better chance than any with positive characteristics.
According to Henry Miller, The blind lead the blind. “It’s the democratic way”. The right to vote, that is, adult franchise, means in our context that anybody over the age of 18 years can vote; by this token alone we put on the same pedestal the experienced 40 plus years old with the inexperienced, immature youth. The wisdom acquired over decades is compromised to the untrained maturity levels of the 18 plus years youth of the country.
It is fallacious and incorrect to presume that only the “Few” err, nay, history proves with evidence that the “most” err too; and their erring is costly with long-term damage to the society. In democratic politics it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between a gentleman and a dacoit.
The labourer and the Learned Professor, the former who may have received no formal school education is put at par, with the latter. The learned intellectual and the uneducated have equal rights, when it comes to exercising the vote - their intellect or wisdom is adjudged as being the same by the democratic principle of equality. The discerning abilities between the two would at least be as wide as the Pacific Ocean, stretching between the shores of Taiwan and Los Angles. But democracy is the unnatural equaliser. Isn’t this thought and concept comical and funny?
Recognising this fundamental flaw in the concept of democracy as a form of government, Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1820(readers please note the year!), “I know no safe depository of the intimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome direction, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education”.
The catch words here are ‘to inform them of their rights through education’. It therefore follows that for democracy to flourish the society must have some standard of minimum education.
To educate masses takes a very long time. As a nation we are “only 72 years old”! - but how much more long will we take ? Bertrand Russel was once asked, what’s the best time to educate a child? Without batting an eyelid, he said, at least a hundred years before the child is born. By this remark he was obviously emphasising on the need to prepare for handing out quality education; he certainly wasn’t being facetious.
The need for a basic level of education in society is a pre- requisite for democracy. Walter Lippmann in his “Preface to Politics” writes: “No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people”.
Our population is almost half illiterate, doesn’t mean that the other half is literate, they are considered as one, because in a beneficent assessment, they may pass the test of being literate, within the confines of the most liberal definition of ‘who is a literate?’. Even the recognised literate in our blessed country, behave as the least read, and to the wonderment of all, such champion the cause of democracy. If you readers do not believe this scribe, just switch on the TV set, and choose any channel. There will be several on air proving the veracity of my view.
The voter in Bhakkar and the voter in Raiwind are considered as equal beings. In reality, the Bhakkar voter represents abject poverty and illiteracy; rustic behaviour, laced with naturally gifted innocence; while the Raiwind voter may represent the wealthy, filthy rich and a mind, acquired by training or blest naturally, that is driven by deceit , deception and the artful use of expedient duplicity. Illiteracy may be the only common factor between them.
The voter of Bhakkar I learnt from a sermon at a mosque, has this ‘generational responsibility’ to vote for the rich and exploitative, and in this matter there is choice between abiding or being on the wrong side of the feudal. Hence the choice in this democracy is easy and obvious.
The poor electorate consider this to be their bounded obligation as a quid pro quo, for the generous permission the “educated voters and voted” class bestows upon them to breathe fresh air, with no costs attached.
Is democracy then a form of government where the few elect and appoint the incompetent and corrupt? Democracy sounds good on a full stomach, and on an empty one, it is merely a hollow slogan, that satiates nothing, including hunger. Bertrand Russel had beautifully captured the sentiment relating to choice between democracy and poverty; said he, “If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grains, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote?”.
We and most developing countries, with low levels of literacy have rechristened, democracy, as despotism, of the elite. The recent events of the ‘long march’ are an ample proof of the mindset, it is not democratic, it is feudalistic. This U-turn of Imran Khan was in the best interest of the people because he sensed rightly that the non-democratic government, or at least some of its members, were enthusiastically looking forward to see a bloodbath. A major event was averted by him.
The disorder amongst the equals and unequals was the truest reflection of our version of democracy. Recall, while at the university, reading an article that stated the House of Commons (Remember it is the citadel of parliamentary democracy and mother of parliaments) is the longest running farce in the West End.
If Queen Elizabeth or any Royalty were put to the test of popular vote, they may lose miserably. The fact that UK and other nations have still the showcases of monarchy, with or without teeth, is because, they serve as an opium for the romantic pastime of the “Commoners”. In our case, the populace has no such diversions, hence they remain fettered by the choice; they have to choose, with no options.
Democracy in a society that knows no boundaries in the exercise of self- restraint and self-denial can only be a mockery. That surely is our kind of setup that we refer to as ‘democracy’. An environment of free for all, scant respect to the highest echelons of the judiciary, armed forces and other state institutions. This is matched by use of base level language. All in the name of democracy and freedom nor speech.
The minimisation of the significance of talent, skill, education and intellect against the maximisation of universal rights of mankind is the curse of democracy in countries like ours. Democracy demands judicious use of the concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity.
To all our youth interested in pursuing politics as a career, I remind in Voltaire’s words, “Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world”. A Spanish lady of Transparency international remarked, “People’s indifference is the best breeding ground for corruption to grow”. Sounds like she is talking about us.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
The writer is a senior banker & freelance contributor
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