On Our Malfunctioning Parliament

In continuation to the previous post, which found no "politics" in this "democracy," let us now proceed to the institution of Parliament, which is central to our mode of government.

News has it that our Parliament had only 32 sittings this year. This is a "record low."

Also note that whenever Parliament does meet, all that seems to happen are "noisy walkouts."

This is indeed what happened yesterday, as per this news report.

To understand what went wrong, let us turn to feudal England, when parliament was born.

Iqbal Z. Quadir has contributed an excellent article to Mint today, wherein he talks of how giving money to governments is a bad idea. He writes in the context of the United Nation's much hyped "millennium development goals" – and concludes that these goals can never be met because the chosen strategy of the UN is to fund governments. He recommends keeping governments starved of funds, thereby allowing private entrepreneurs to keep their capital and invest it. He looks back at medieval England as a historical instance during which this strategy worked. He says:

"A look at the history of England explains why outside aid to governments is damaging. In the 13th century, after the advent of property rights, the monarch was forced to convene a group of citizens as a tax legitimizing device. That group’s name? Parliament. Over several centuries, Parliament capitalized on the monarch’s chronic need for money and, indeed, made sure the crown did not gain financial independence. Every time a monarch came to pass a new tax Bill, Parliament obliged, but only after exacting more liberty from the crown. Over time, Parliament emerged as the more powerful branch of government. In hindsight, the two keys to the successful economic and democratic growth of England were (a) the monarch’s shortage of money, not its adequacy; and (b) the lack of external aid."

Yet, our Parliament represents those who live off taxes!

And they never ask for more liberties in lieu of taxes.

Here is another story of a parliamentary committee recommending that the government's powers to take over our properties be increased without limit!

So we have "democracy" without "politics" and without a "parliament" (correctly understood) either.

What a mess our great nation is in.

And the makers of this mess want to teach!

And all our great Editors think this is the best idea ever!

Ignorance rules, dudes.