Lessons
This post comes in the aftermath of an election defeat. No, not the Italian one. Neither the one of the many that are happening in our various state assemblies. This is an election defeat I faced. Quite a few lessons I learnt.
1. In democracy, its not just winning that matters. Running a close second makes your voice heard.
2. People get unduly diplomatic during the election time. All around, you see poker faces.
3. Its not just the politicians who do not keep promises. Even the voters forget theirs.
4. Abstaining from voting is absolute cowardice.
5. Getting votes without campaigning gives you a false sense of pride and accomplishment.
And the Gospel Truths:
1. The Pareto Rule (thanks to the Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, common sense has been given a fancy name).
2. The elected ones display the mentality equivalent to the weighted average mentality of the electorate.
posted by Sujeet @ 8:52 AM
4 Comments:
You lost ?!?!
Trust Italians to come up with such laws !
To be really fair, the elected people must take responsibility - meaning, it is more important that the elected keep their promises than the electorate, because they are the ones in a better position to change things.
For the electorate and common people to take things in their own hands and change things, it requires a revolution. For the elected to do so, it only requires an election.
Very true. But the candidates need to be voted on merit, which does not always happen, and so the person who is truly interested and capable of changing things is not voted in.
And yeah, I lost by 4 votes.7 chaps who were to vote for me never turned up!!! :-(
Ohh..sad !
It is true that voting doesnt happen on merit, which makes things a bit messy. That is a intrinsic failing of a democracy.
Actually, the 2nd Gospel Truth in your post works the other way round too. The electorate will vote in the person whose mentality is closest to theirs (weighted average, of course;) ).
Which really means that electorate is more likely to vote for "one amongst us" than for someone who is better qualified.
@Sujeet,
"Its not just the politicians who do not keep promises. Even the voters forget theirs." :D
........ Indeed a genuine observation.
Better luck next time.
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