Champions of Europe 2009

I am no great fan of FC Barcelona but they played some good football in the just concluded season.

Rogue politicians exploiting innocent people

I have been of the view that people get the Governments and leaders they deserve.If not everyone of them, at least 80% of them deserve the rule that is there at present.

If you are someone who believes in the "wisdom" of the masses, you would have trouble explaining Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav winning 20+ LS seats in the recent general elections.We hear our intellectuals talking about how the common man is more concerned about winning his daily bread than lofty ideas like national security, fiscal deficits,economic stability etc.May be that is the reason the common man in UP voted for Mulayam Singh Yadav's party. But, wasn't it the SP's manifesto that promised to curb English and Computers? Doesn't the common man in UP believe that learning english would improve his chances of winning daily bread? Or is it that the common man in UP believes that computers have reduced his chance of winning daily bread, one might wonder about the penetration of computers in UP, it must be mind boggling, that the mean machines are stealing the daily bread of the common man.

The common man in West Bengal is even smarter. He rightly voted for the lady who drove away the 3rd world car project from the green and fertile fields of bong land.But the choice for the bengali babu is easier, he had to choose between the lesser of the two evils. Some of the eminent intellectuals even claim that the Left got decimated because of it's opposition to the nuclear deal. The common man in bengal is very smart you see, he knows not only about the 3rd world car project but also about the nuclear deal.He voted for the Lady who opposed the car project but voted against the Left for opposing the nuclear deal. The bengali babu is a very smart and complex person. Wish we had such a profound depth of thought!

I chanced upon one of the Wiki articles on a dude called Alexander Tytler. The following paragraph is attributed to him.

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Tytler

I don't know whether he said the exact thing or not but this makes lot of sense.Nothing beasts the populist policies in a democracy.(now, don't argue with me about the average age 200 yrs and all that)I am shocked and surprised that none talks about the biggest and most effective populist policy that the previous UPA govt introduced. People talk about NREGA, Farm loan waivers and the crap that people wanted secular govt etc. But, none talks about the OBC quotas that were introduced by the incumbent govt.( I am not interested in debating the pros and cons of this quota, we all know it) I think that one factor would have given the grand old party of India at least 10% votes advantage over rivals. I know many people who have benefited from this quota and they are all grateful to the govt that introduced this. One shot, rivals can't oppose it and you have a loyal vote bank for the next election. Bang!!!

I think what is attributed to that Tytler dude makes lot of sense and my belief that people get the govts that they deserve holds good.

Back!!!

Yes, I think it's time to come back here.