Little Hope to Cheer; Great Despair to Share

[rabipaudel1]

A f

[kazi]

They say, "beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder" but it should have been: "beauty lies in the stroke of the painter." Simply *beautiful* is how I would describe these few minutes of reading... not because I agree with everything this post has to say, but because it so resoundingly agrees to progressive thought, to hope, however faint it may be.

As always, I tend to shy away from the blame game because we all know that whoever is in the *hot* seat gets the thrashing. Nevertheless, the issues raised as well as the solutions proposed are much in alignment with our discussions here at Aawartan. I must say that the satire is wonderful, in that, nobody would conduct an election to experience another round of humiliation. Its down-to-earth and moreover, its true. But then again, I think in the bigger picture of national politics, its just a stepping stone to... you know where. Also, I thought that "2 + 2 => 22 complexity" is a very creative expression. I like it.. a lot.

And finally, whats the fun in a discussion board if one does not express some disagreement? As always I have a few comments:
1. The phrase *public mandate* really turns me off. I mean, isn't it just a propaganda by the leaders to push their cause? If you ask me, the public mandate is peace, subsidized utility bills, minimal load shedding, reduced inflation, free education, free healthcare, the list just goes on. But as any scholar of political science can inform us, the purpose of the interim government is to make preparations for a stable one. And however agonizingly long-drawn-out the interim period remains, it is, by definition, impermanent.
2. And this above argument leads me to my next comment, which is to say that, "we do not sacrifice something that was never ours, in the first place." In the civilized world, significance of power lies in the act of giving, or empowering. Otherwise, it is called tyranny. The people gave power to the leaders and people can take it away. And this truth must be acknowledged by the leaders and must drive the leaders to work for the benefit of the people. We must learn from history.
3. I am not speaking for or against anyone. I have the highest respect for all national and international leaders.
(3a: Contradiction) Its like saying all human beings are mortals; Socrates is a human being; But Socrates should be immortal. If we accept that political players rightly vie for power, it is not fair to ask one to relinquish power, whatever the reason.
(3b: Misinformation) I think it is essential to categorize political players into their different ideological baskets. For example, what Roosevelt and President Obama did is according to the powers given to them by the system and not motivated by power politics.There is non above the constitution and even the President is empowered and bound by the senate, as shown by history in the case of Roosevelt and impeachment of Clinton. And therefore, in no way, can these leaders be categorized with Stalin and Hitler, or their systems.

In conclusion, I agree with most of your suggestions to resolve the current issue. I just have one thing to add, which I might have mentioned once in a discussion earlier. We need to make systemic changes and ensure that a similar problem is handled appropriately in the future. Its not this leader or that, but the framework within which leaders operate. Its not load shedding or inflation, but the effectiveness of the mechanisms by which the qualms of the people are taken up by the representatives.

[rabipaudel1]

I can't agree more. Your cases are very noble indeed. But to be more candid, this flotsam and jetsam of fact and fiction revolves around the issues you raised last time, i.e., (1) draft the constitution, and 2. elections for new democratic government under the new constitution. I never escaped these perimeter, shy of being labeled as a cheap scribbler. And the inestimable damage: I could not mention other facets like load-shedding, health care, etc. That's my fault, or maybe that was an inescapable central gravity if our discussion. Could be!
But one thing for sure: a great political tragedy is ambushing our country due to the Maoist leader and the leaders of the alliance. It's The Truth. Therefore, I don't really see a glimmer of hope even though I have presented two. Those are, I am sorry to say, only fictional version of hope-hope as cold as the Antarctic, almost verging on despair.
You are very right. Yet, we cannot deny the fact that most of our political leaders are uneducated, criminal minded, corrupt political animals. These animals, another agonizing truth is, always vie for capturing the state power. At this context, it's my gut feeling, a tragedy is the only resolution. I have a very faint idea of what the tragedy would look like.
Lets see how the things take shape in future. At present it's grim, grim, grim. Correct me if I am wrong.

[kazi]

@rabipaudel1, I think I can understand what you mean. I agree that fact & fiction is distinct from hope & despair because one is obvious and the other is a matter of opinion and perspective. Nevertheless, I think idealism might be helping us cling on to the faint glimmer of hope. And since ours is a new democracy, systemic solutions are critically important to really incorporate democracy into our system and the people.