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Warning: Long political post. Read at your own risk
This is an election year for United States and India, arguably the two largest and most influential democracies existing today – each varying in its culture, economic status and political machinations. The political machinery has already begun churning and the populist carrots have been dangled in front of the unaware populace. All the seemingly gibberish economic and political jargon will be relegated to the background now as politicians will indulge in what is popularly termed as “election talk”, that mostly border on promises heavily laden with optimistic predictions or denouncement of rival camp’s policies.
We would definitely be in a dilemma regards the condition of our nation’s wellbeing if we pay even the cursory attention to the rhetoric dished out everyday in gradually increasing doses. The incumbent party will obviously paint a rosy picture, claiming credit for everything good in the nation and explaining away the deficiencies as mere aberrations of the political cycle.
But sometimes I wonder, do we really possess adequate knowledge to decipher the true nature of contemporary times or are blinded by the normative-laden rhetoric mumbo-jumbo? By we, I mean the bulk of the majority which would decide our future rulers. It doesn’t help for a choice few with sound understanding of the health of the economy when the majority of the populace is concerned with the Sonia’s nationality or Bush’s stand on gay rights. By no means, are these small issues but the extent of importance far outweighs the more important issues.
Importance might be subjective but have we as a populace failed to keep up with the jargon of politics? Have the machinations of economics-politics linkages become unfathomable for the average Joe? The development of policy/political sciences puts into sharp focus a fundamental issue of democracy, namely the growing gap between increasingly difficult issues and increasingly complex policy-relevant knowledge, and the static capacities of citizens to understand these issues and form intelligent opinions on them with the help of the new knowledge.
I bet the majority of voters wouldn’t understand the Keynesian logic for increasing government spending in times of recession or the logic economic reasoning against increasing minimum wage. I am simply talking about the basics of policy science. The advance issues of free trade, trade deficits, foreign exchange would be totally lost on the average voter. They would simply be interesting in the price of onions and wonder if the price of gas has gone up in the budget. The widening gap between relevant issues and voter knowledge is bound to implode, exposing the fallacies of democracy.
I do not want to end with a problem but try to seek out a solution. A key component of Tocqueville’s version of democracy was political education intended to provide ordinary citizens democratic values and habits. Policy sciences give up the aura of expertise – must include lay citizens in technical policy discussions. Should you consider it your primary duty to keep yourself updated on the latest political scenario and separate the chaff from the grain? The onus would lie primarily on the individual but the state also holds responsibility for deciphering the political jargon in layman terms through a series of televised debates a la United States national debates (worught with too many assumptions, I know). Although pluralism might be a myth in most democracies, attempts to bring complex theories to the common man would clear cobwebs and in turn would make for better informed political decisions at the ballot box. Maybe Manmohan Singh, a key player in the early-90s reform process would have had no problems in being reelected, even in the distant constituency of Jharkhand let alone an affluent upper-class better-educated politically-aware South Delhi constituency.
Ankh and Aashish, this might be considered a futile attempt at fostering political education, but a start nevertheless.
by Patrix | on Thursday, January 8th, 2004 at 7:26 pm | 
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