The Problem with Democracy

As I watched the news today, looking at footage of 44 ill-educated people who had been sequestered at a resort to prevent them from being bought and persuaded to support another party, as I noted that an emotionally labile, narcissistic bigot with an ill-informed disrespect for science wants to promote coal mining on protected lands, it seems clear that democracy is not working.

In theory, democracy seems like the best form of government we have tried so far. Certainly it is better than being subject to the despotic notions of a dictator or a monarch. However, the only aspect of democracy which seems to be working is the ability to remove from power a particularly disastrous government.

Ideally, we would elect competent people who are honest and have a good working knowledge of economics, politics and history. Unfortunately, it is clear that what wins elections is not the ability to lead but the ability to fool people.

It seems increasingly incidental that leaders like Nehru, Obama or Manmohan Singh occasionally come into power.

The qualities which would make for a good leader seem to be handicaps for actually getting elected to a leadership position. Consider:

1. The intelligence to understand problems and develop solutions for them. Many solutions to long term problems are actually unpopular in the short term. For instance:
1. If we are to stop using up the resources of the planet and destroying the planet, we need to divert resources towards developing renewable sources of energy. Trump, for instance is doing exactly the opposite. He panders to his vote bank by promising jobs in coal mining when the need of the hour is to phase out coal mining and develop solar energy, nuclear power, wind energy etc.
2. Income inequality is increasing in the US as well as India and at the same time, both Trump and Modi have been trying to withdraw support from both healthcare for the poor and from measures designed to reign in irresponsible banking and trading practices. While the Modi government reduces the budget for healthcare, increases the budget for war and promotes AYUSH, the Trump government launches repeated attacks (so far unsuccessful) against the affordable care act as well as measures to rein in irresponsible activities by Wall Street.
3. Higher education is becoming increasingly expensive, reducing our pool of talent. The long sighted view would be to reduce the cost of education, ideally to zero so that our best and brightest are able to contribute to their potential, a measure advocated by Bernie Sanders, who was sabotaged by his own party. Meanwhile, in India we cling to a system of offering privileged selection based on caste for higher education as well as jobs.
4. War is glamorous and sells well. People like a war from time to time as long as they do not have to participate personally. Listen to Americans calling for a 'military solution' to North Korea or to Indians calling for 'a final solution' to the conflict with Pakistan or even for an aggressive stance against the far stronger Chinese. War invariably weakens both sides apart from the immense quantity of unnecessary death and suffering it brings about. The need is obviously to resolve problems by discussion and compromise. It is rare that a politician sees the need to move away from war, often at the cost of their own political career. The world would have been a very different place, had Khrushchev not backed away from Kennedy's willingness to start World War III or if Gorbachev had not used Glasnost and Perestroika to defuse the Cold War, incidentally also destroying his own political career and bringing about the dismantling of the USSR.
2. Integrity. An unfamiliar word, often used inappropriately. The dictionary defines it as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Both are insuperable handicaps in politics. 

Gandhis and Nehrus, Mandelas, Luther Kings and Gorbachevs are few and far between. We now elect people who promise to lower taxes, to keep immigrants out, to bring about the supremacy of our religion. People with neither education nor intelligence nor integrity. They have the ability to talk to people in language the common man understands. They share the bigoted ideas of the common man. They make it okay to be racist or casteist or to use religion to categorize people. The do not understand science or economics or philosophy or psychology but they do understand how to make the 'unwashed masses' vote for them.

People say "okay, we understand that there are problems with democracy but it is still better than anything else we have." That's a bit like saying "we know that coal pollutes but it's better than burning wood." The fact is that it is time to develop a better system than democracy.

We manage to select our best people to be scientists, engineers, doctors. We even, usually, manage to find good administrators to run companies and good leaders to lead armies. Why do we not have standards for politicians?

It would not be difficult to have educational standards for politicians. Make them compete for colleges in which they learn science, economics, history, philosophy. After training them, make them work their way up the pyramid of leadership. Let them start with a village panchayat, then a municipal corporation of a small town then a district level leadership position then at the state level then at the national level and finally at the international level.

Have a periodic ethics investigation by an independent agency to weed out the corrupt. Have a process to slow down the less competent and speed up the progress of the more gifted. Pay them well. Better than the Senior Management of companies so that the motive for corruption is weakened.

Eventually, I believe, we will develop Artificial Intelligence which will be able to do almost any job, including policy and leadership better than we do ourselves. Of course, looking at leaders around the world, it sometimes seems like rocks would make better leaders than the ones we elect.

I was rooting for Skynet all the time in the Terminator movies.