Editors! Think Anew

I watched the proceedings of the Lok Sabha with horror last evening, and heard all the Reichwing editors issue their apologia for the Reich.

And this morning, the papers do the same – all the “opinion” published, either as unsigned editorials or as opinions with a name behind them, are apologia in various forms. For example: Ronojoy Sen’s leader article in the ToI is entitled “It’s Messy, But It Works.” (Sorry, couldn’t find the link.)

What works? Repeat: What works?

Actually, throughout this vast sub-continent, including the capital city, NOTHING WORKS. This post is appearing late today because of a power failure in the morning – in New Delhi.

Here is today’s news (from the ToI) about Bangalore collapsing after some rain. This happened in Mumbai a while back. It happened in Delhi just the other day. And I saw pictures of this happening in Guwahati, Patna and Lucknow. This is a common happening in Indian cities and towns today – and the Reich talks about 9 per cent growth. And Rahul Gandhi talks about nuclear power helping the poor – exactly as his great-grandfather’s steel mills did, I presume.

We need institutions of urban local government that work.

Our Reichwing editors are all infatuated with the centralized, socialist State. They all see State and Society as One.

They see this State as not conforming to their “theories” – but they are wont to think anew.

They might not call themselves “socialist” today – but they cling helplessly to other tags of legitimacy the State employs – like “democratic”. Yet, true democracy, as in Switzerland, is about diffusing power, not concentrating it.

Fortunately, although our Lok Sabha has sunk to its lowest depths – “nadir” was a word used many times on TV last night – there is no need for despair. The failure of “political society” can only be good for civil society. Our solution therefore lies in making the government more and more irrelevant in our lives. We have to think in terms of free markets, free international trade, free trading cities and towns – a world in which individuals survive via the free processes of voluntary market exchanges. A world, that is, where politics does not affect economic outcomes. That is the world-view of Libertarianism. Our Reichwing editors need to travel this distance in their minds. Then they too will think in terms of a Second Republic.