Chacha's "Work" - And A Proposed Increase

Our Great Leader, chacha manmohan s gandhi, in his New Year's eve message, has spoken of all the "work" he will do, for us, in 2011:

"We will redouble our efforts to deal effectively and credibly with the challenges of inflation, cleansing our governing processes, national security and making our delivery system work for the aam admi (common man)."

When the State says it will work harder - "redouble our efforts" - the people should be extremely wary. After all, the State is tax-collectors and policemen, and if tax-collectors and policemen "redouble their efforts" wee the sheeple get screwed. The State produces "bads"; only entrepreneurs produce "goods."

That is why a State that does very little makes sense - for taxes stay low. When all our big media editors loudly cheered as chacha manmohan announced his "right to free and compulsory education" they did not think of the "education tax" that would soon follow.

To most sensible people, what is urgently required in India is that our The State be cut down - that it do less, not more. Like get out of the electricity business. Like get out of the way.

Thus, if we take a re-look at all the "work" our Great Leader is promising to do, we might conclude that we would be much better off if his The State took a long holiday.

For example, chacha says he wants to "deal effectively and credibly with the challenges of inflation." But inflation is "deliberate policy." It is used to fund our The State's many expenses. The best way to deal with inflation is to shut down all the schemes funded through inflationary means. Thus, the less The State does, the better.

Similarly, when chacha says he will "work" towards "cleansing our governing processes" wee the sheeple ought to point out that the best way to do that would be to free The Market. Get out of the way. Let Freedom ring. The only "work" required is tearing up the bureaucratic rule-book. And repealing all the repressive legislation. The best way to cleanse the governing process is to have very few such processes - so that the perfectly honest processes of market exchange can proceed apace, without any State interference.

So when our Great Leader promises "making our delivery system work for the aam admi" we ought to tell him we would prefer the "delivery system" of the local shopkeeper. Thus, there would a "home delivery system for beer" in Nude Elly if the State got out of the business and let private shopkeepers sell the booze. In Gujarat, where prohibition rules, the mafia provide excellent "booze home delivery" services. Way to go!

So my response to chacha's message is: Do less work, dude. Shut down vast swathes of the State instead.

Yet, there are those who think otherwise - and recommend even more "work" for our The State.

The veteran journalist Prem Shankar Jha, in his recent column in Tehelka, concludes with the demand that "Manmohan Singh fulfills the promise to create a State funding system for elections." The column is on corporate sleaze - and Jha thinks if election campaigns are State-funded, political as well as corporate honesty will prevail.

If Jha's suggestion wins the day, we can easily predict what will transpire:

First, there will be a new "election tax."

Second, there will be a new head in the annual Budget under which resources will be allocated towards election funding.

Third, there will be ministries of election funding all over the land.

Fourth, anyone and everyone looking for free money will form a "political party" and contest elections. Bureaucrats will have a hard time separating genuine candidates from frivolous ones.

And fifth: Corporate sleaze will NOT go away, because that has nothing to do with election funding, and everything to do with "interventionism." Every State intervention in The Market sets up vested interests both in favour as well as against. Each such interest then seeks to buy support among legislators. This corrupts democracy - as MPs no longer "represent their constituencies"; rather, they represent special interests. I have an earlier post on this phenomenon.

Thus, asking the State to do more work is against the public interest.

My New Year message to all Indians is:

Ask NOTHING of the State.

So when chacha promises "national security" - while some 200,000 Indians die on our horribly unsafe roads every year - think of your own security. Be your own "security chief." Be your own "defence minister."

Remember, a gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

A gun is a consumer durable that serves to make the consumer more durable.

Self-help is the way of The Market, even moreso in the vital area of "security."