Democracy...

Elections… a cause of so much clamor in all cities, a source of so many arguments among all who can think, the big day for all politicians and their entourage… and a major nuisance… to me.

I finally became eligible to cast my own vote this time around… something that caused unwarranted (according to me) excitement to my parents. I had first decided not to bother… choosing instead to sleep in on a holiday, a far more enticing prospect than casting one vote that would change the nation….

Eventually though I did go and get my finger marked as a sign that I was a citizen of the country… and pressed a single button that produced the high pitched squeal of democracy in play.

Quite frankly, I consider the entire process to be a waste of time and effort.

It’s not that I do not believe in the idea of democracy. No… I would certainly back it up against alternatives like Aristocracy, Autocracy, Gerontocracy or Communism… it’s just that I feel it cannot be a success in our nation… at least the way it is now.

In a nation, where around seventy percent of the population find it a stretch to arrange the next meal, where around half have still not been touched with the joys of education, where eighty percent live far away from the face of development in the rural obscurity that hasn't yet received the meanest form of technology, where half of the ones in cities dwell in slums in conditions worse than the ones in villages… how can we expect democracy to be successful?

By it’s very definition… Democracy is a form of government in which all citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.

So applying it to our nation means that the rare few that can actually think for themselves, are capable of weighing the pros and cons of any particular party coming to power… have as much a say as the ones that vote for their favorite celebrity on account of their looks.

Now, considering the sheer minority of the politically aware fragment of our nation… whatever they do… hardly has a say at all.

So at the end of the day… what really decides our government is a mixture of how well our leaders have approached and brainwashed the people dwelling in the seclusion and darkness away from the seats of power. A candidates skills as an orator… carries way more value than what his ideals and objectives (usually personal gain… that much is common to most politicians) are. And also the fact if the candidate has the support of the media… an effective weapon to canvass for him and gain valuable votes by the method of direct as well as indirect persuasion.

He who plays best on the gullibility and the deliberately prolonged poverty of our nation’s majority… shall win. This is the statement of our system of government… if we ceased to sugarcoat it.

Sounds… disgusting, doesn’t it? I know… but still, it is entirely accurate if you open your eyes and chose to hear what is being shouted at you all the time.

So it stands to reason that we would be better of with alternatives like Meritocracy or Supra-nationalism… doesn’t it?

If not for the blatantly obvious reason that it ‘makes perfect sense’… than at least to give it a shot when our current plan has clearly fallen flat…?

However, every time a discussion is held on this topic… the latent patriotic zeal of the masses condense to form a wall of absolute conviction projecting the flawless motto… “We will shout to drown out your voice till you shut up!”

Hard to argue against that… on so many levels….

The perfect blend of convictions and pig headedness resulting in the recurring stagnancy of society and the continued darkness in most of our areas….

Such is the unquestionable power and position of our greatest of ideals… Democracy….