On The Tax, The Road, The Cop and Their Academies

The report on the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India swearing by "socialism" - a dirty word to me - ends with the following words:

Taking the cue, the Bench disposed of the petition saying though the PIL raised an important question of law, it was purely academic in nature at present. "The court will decide such a question as and when a political party which is refused recognition by EC raises it," the Bench said.

In other words, the "academic" nature of the argument is not worthy of attention. Allow me to share with you the dangers of such a view.

I have now been in Hassan, Karnataka, for a few days. I buy 2 small cans of beer every evening because beer here costs twice as much as Goa. I have necessarily have to curtail my consumption. I have suffered. The retailer has suffered. The beer industry has suffered. Indirect taxes are a dangerous weapon in the hands of our The State.

Yet, what do we pay the taxes for? Neither side of BM Road, where I live, has a footpath. In the evening, motorcycles are parked all over what should have been a footpath, and walking is impossible.

The road is broad but the traffic is insane. Two traffic cops stand lazily by. They are joined by a crane vehicle. I tell them to get rid of the stray cows. They do.

In the night, at 10:30 pm, all the action is shut down by force. The cops play Wee Willie Winkie.

Now, in a purely "academic sense," bureaucrats and policemen are "trained" in Academies. If these academies did not teach them only socialist principles but also told them about markets and cities, they would understand that The Market is the most important institution we possess. They would look after cities and city markets better and would view the urban street as the MOST IMPORTANT collective capital good the citizens possess. They would look after streets, footpaths and markets. They would throw out stray cattle instinctively. Here, they are uncaring at best, ununderstanding of market phenomena, and predatory at worst.

In a purely "academic sense," knowledge of The Market should inform our civilian administration. After all, technically we are a "mixed economy" and The Market has always been there, thankfully. Today, it is all that is working.

The Chief Justice wants us to take the political road and form a political party. At least I will never do any such thing. I will continue to oppose socialism in an academic sense. This is an issue of contesting philosophies, of conflicts of visions, of knowledge failure. Let us ponder over the deep issues raised instead of wasting our energies in electoral politics - always a mug's game.