Has anyone heard about BJP's new CD?

[Yamaraj]

indian public sab janti hai leaders can't fool us every time thats why laloo lost the bihar election and now nitish kumar is a chief minister

Not quite the truth.
Have you ever got addicted to a good movie or song - so much so that you watched/listened to it dozens of times? Eventually, no matter how good, it gets boring after that and you switch to another, not because it's better, but different.

Democracy works this way. It's like a monkey with a remote in its hands, resting on a sofa before a TV with 200 channels. Only in reality, you're stuck with a stupid channel for 5 years in case you fsck your choices up.

 

[ssdivisiongermany1933]

ooops Democracy is rule of many blind dictators

 

[thunderbird.117]

Today CNN IBN exposed 13 UP politicians. They were willing to kill their opponents, throw shoe at the speaker in LA, switch sides, capture votes for money.

Wow. That is a big hit to indian people.

 

[gaurav_indian]

UP mein jurm jara kam hai.

 

[mediator]

Hinduism is an unorganised way of life , that's why its votes are scattered badly
and no hope of united in future tooo

And what exactly the bolded part has to do with this topic? A detailed explanation wud be nice!

 

[aliasghark]

Not quite the truth.
Have you ever got addicted to a good movie or song - so much so that you watched/listened to it dozens of times? Eventually, no matter how good, it gets boring after that and you switch to another, not because it's better, but different.

Democracy works this way. It's like a monkey with a remote in its hands, resting on a sofa before a TV with 200 channels. Only in reality, you're stuck with a stupid channel for 5 years in case you fsck your choices up.

so what kind of a government do you prefer? (doesn't dictatorship mean you're stuck with a stupid channel for ever?)

 

[faraaz]

indian public sab janti hai leaders can't fool us every time thats why laloo lost the bihar election and now nitish kumar is a chief minister

Actually...Laloo Prasad Yadav is one of the shrewdest and most competent politicians in our country. The reason Bihar is a backwards hellhole is because of the entire government system in that state, not just the actions of one man. In fact, if given an efficient system, the man is a bloody genius! Case in point...*www.reporter7.com/23051/how-lalu-prasad-yadav-converted-indian.htm Furthermore, your statement that the indian public can't be fooled PROVES that the Indian Public is incompetent and the much-vaunted will of the public sucks at choosing a responsible leader. So don't talk about what you don't know...mmmkay??

Not quite the truth.
Have you ever got addicted to a good movie or song - so much so that you watched/listened to it dozens of times? Eventually, no matter how good, it gets boring after that and you switch to another, not because it's better, but different.

Democracy works this way. It's like a monkey with a remote in its hands, resting on a sofa before a TV with 200 channels. Only in reality, you're stuck with a stupid channel for 5 years in case you fsck your choices up.

Best...post...ever!!! ^^^

so what kind of a government do you prefer? (doesn't dictatorship mean you're stuck with a stupid channel for ever?)

Actually,the problem with democracy is giving the vote to EVERYONE. I mean, think about it...if the plumbing in your house broke down and needed to be fixed, would you just hire a plumber or would you get your whole neighbourhood together, form a committee and fix it through consensus (namely trial and error) ?? However, there's no point voting for anyone because we Indians are given a choice at election time between a rock and a hard place. Seriously, all our politicians are crooks and thieves anyway.

If you want to fix democracy...here's what you do. First, get rid of all the bad politicians (corrupt, incompetent etc) and then allow only such people who have ATLEAST:

1 - A Master's degree
2 - Completely clean background of criminal activity

...to contest in an election. After that, only people of a similar qualification (say...Bachelor's instead of Master's) should be allowed to vote, irrespective of gender. There you go...that's your perfect democracy.

And now let me tell you why it won't work, before you do!

Percentage of people who meet those educational qualifications is less than 10% in this country I'm guessing. This is a wild guess and truth may be that the percentage is MUCH less than what I posted. Democracy means EVERYONE votes...right?? This is the idea which is screwed up in the first place. Its like a school election...good for nothing pretty boy who is popular with students gets elected, but if its a nomination system BEFOREHAND...teachers pick out worthy candidates and THEN let students vote...

Why oh WHY don't we do this at a national level too?? Of course...its because if we DID have a nomination system, then not too long before the nominators get corrupted. Bah...want to have a good government?? Let whichever monkey gets elected do what it wants...privatise everything and let money talk.

Not the best system, but it will certainly be the most efficient.

 

[aliasghark]

Actually,the problem with democracy is giving the vote to EVERYONE. I mean, think about it...if the plumbing in your house broke down and needed to be fixed, would you just hire a plumber or would you get your whole neighbourhood together, form a committee and fix it through consensus (namely trial and error) ?? However, there's no point voting for anyone because we Indians are given a choice at election time between a rock and a hard place. Seriously, all our politicians are crooks and thieves anyway.

If you want to fix democracy...here's what you do. First, get rid of all the bad politicians (corrupt, incompetent etc) and then allow only such people who have ATLEAST:

1 - A Master's degree
2 - Completely clean background of criminal activity

...to contest in an election. After that, only people of a similar qualification (say...Bachelor's instead of Master's) should be allowed to vote, irrespective of gender. There you go...that's your perfect democracy.

And now let me tell you why it won't work, before you do!

Percentage of people who meet those educational qualifications is less than 10% in this country I'm guessing. This is a wild guess and truth may be that the percentage is MUCH less than what I posted. Democracy means EVERYONE votes...right?? This is the idea which is screwed up in the first place. Its like a school election...good for nothing pretty boy who is popular with students gets elected, but if its a nomination system BEFOREHAND...teachers pick out worthy candidates and THEN let students vote...

Why oh WHY don't we do this at a national level too?? Of course...its because if we DID have a nomination system, then not too long before the nominators get corrupted. Bah...want to have a good government?? Let whichever monkey gets elected do what it wants...privatise everything and let money talk.

Not the best system, but it will certainly be the most efficient.

for the most part, i agree with your post. however, the elections for the central government isn't the only place people get to vote. there are state government elections, city/town/suburb/village elections. when you go to an average village, you'll be hard pressed to find a person who has completed grade 10, let alone a bachelors. so who's going to vote for the village administrators, if there isn't anyone passing the 'eligibility test'?

democracy, like anything else, has its merits and demerits. a kingdom/monarchy (like s.arabia, bahrain, etc) is low-risk, low-return comparable to blunt knife which can't be put to much use; while a democracy can, as someone put it, be a catalyst for prosperity (say switzerland?) or fuel for carnage (saddam's iraq, and indeed current iraq).

you're absolutely right about the nomination thing. it can never work in india for corruption is the way of life here. we're not looking for slavish yes-men to lead us. but if you can find people who never go corrupt, this would be the answer to all our ills.

 

[faraaz]

for the most part, i agree with your post. however, the elections for the central government isn't the only place people get to vote. there are state government elections, city/town/suburb/village elections. when you go to an average village, you'll be hard pressed to find a person who has completed grade 10, let alone a bachelors. so who's going to vote for the village administrators, if there isn't anyone passing the 'eligibility test'?

Yeah, I know what you mean...but look at it this way. At the grass-roots level...all the illiterate masses living in India's villages...what DO they care about?? Financial security?? Assured means of survival?? I mean, when people are committing suicide because they can't pay off their loans and their only means of livelihood is completely on the rocks because of drought, lack of power etc...I doubt they are going to care too much about who is best for the country. What they do is vote for the person who promises them the most in the most convincing manner. THAT is why our country is screwed up.

THAT is why I believe democracy is a screwed up system. Democracy and public elections are meant to be for deciding the leader who is best for the country. Not who is best at story-telling.

And yeah, I know what I said pertains to central government, but for the state governments also its the same story. I forget the guy's name (oh wait, google to the rescue!! Dr. Y.S Rajasekhar Reddy) who is the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh won the post mainly through massive campaigning in the rural areas (who had been ignored for a while by Naidu, the previous CM).

Turns out that all the development in Hyderabad and AP at the moment is through private sector . Government is doing jack-all. Of course, I'm not a political science expert and these are my opinions based on what I have read and seen since the AP elections. If I am wrong, please feel free to correct me.

I guess the purpose of this long rant is to try and justify why I don't think it would be that much of a loss to deny these people a vote when it comes to state and central government elections. That is a VERY bad idea. Like Yamaraj's excellent metaphor shows clearly...we will be in a bad state after that!

 

[aliasghark]

i couldn't agree more. the eligibility test should be in place where theres too much power at stake (central and state governments).