tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post433240533650092790..comments2024-03-29T12:03:50.891+05:30Comments on The Leap Blog: What does socialism do to ethicsAjay Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03835842741008200034noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post-73305743438864869972014-07-23T15:12:49.298+05:302014-07-23T15:12:49.298+05:30Ok, I misunderstood. I guess the other issue is th...Ok, I misunderstood. I guess the other issue is that the "enlightened elite" is hardly to be found and often has huge odds against it. Perhaps its always been that way in most places of the world throughout history. Hard to say. The elite needs patronage to flower, which is largely absent, or comes with strings attached, leading to a compromised elite (which doesn't deserve the title of elite). <br /><br />One approach to study would be Lee Kuan Yew's in Singapore. Maybe it was easier for him as he had only one city-state to deal with. But, perhaps there were elements in his approach which are compatible with democratic systems. Or, why not replicate useful parts of the model in a few cities within the country. The point is that there are perhaps top-down approaches worth considering as opposed to the people-driven bottom-up change. Information sharing and transparency are surely useful and will lead to improvements, but I don't know if that is enough to improve institutions, or if we have the patience for that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post-54188167858130388262014-07-22T00:17:04.891+05:302014-07-22T00:17:04.891+05:30I seem to have conveyed it wrongly. I'm certai...I seem to have conveyed it wrongly. I'm certainly not for referendum decision making. <br />The current set of problems due to mai-baap sarkar have arisen from the veneer of socialism on unaccountable decision making and implementation in government. If socialism makes corruption attractive, representative democracy as practised in India does no better. That's because there is near absent accountability of decisions and policy implementation, by the bureaucracy to the people. The only accountability is for politicians at election time, on broad political ideology. And then there is hardly any variance in the decision making and implantation practices to differentiate and choose between different political parties. <br />The representative politician is indeed the representative of the Aam Janta and that must be respected. But to have the influence of the enlightened elite in Indian politics will take a really long time to happen. <br />The possible solution to my mind is to increase the transparency in information sharing with people and to roll the feedback from that into further policy setting/decision making. This can create the impetus to improve public (esp middle class) participation in governance and in parallel improve over time, the compliance attitude of people towards rules in general. These mechanisms are also market mechanisms as opposed to the theoretical socialistic high grounds. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03922656823483362508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post-80313232479514123442014-07-21T08:03:39.020+05:302014-07-21T08:03:39.020+05:30"Increasing the circle of inclusiveness of de..."Increasing the circle of inclusiveness of decisions of government can delegate part of govt responsibilities to people, which in turn will, presumably make the people more responsible in their public actions."<br /><br />High hopes! We need to remove the common notion among the middle class that the junta can take good decisions for themselves. When in fact, socialism, welfare, etc is actually desired by common people in their public demands. Take any survey of the people on any matter in the world and you will find that majority are misinformed or have no clue. How in the world, do we expect the junta to be able to make proper decisions. There is a reason why democracy has evolved from open debate in Greek colloseums to a representative system, with some role for elites, experts (with hopefully deep institutional expertise). Why do we want to turn back the clock to a medieval form of democracy? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post-66408183139995850512014-07-20T14:13:27.123+05:302014-07-20T14:13:27.123+05:30Your arguments that the socialistic state tilts pe...Your arguments that the socialistic state tilts people towards deficits in public morality, were wonderful to read and thought provoking. <br /><br />If morality is to come in again in the India like situation, we would need to actively create environments for market-like forces to be able to act. Say, in the area of law enforcement, can we do something to improve information availability for people and simultaneously enable people to have a voice in focus-setting for their policing. What I'm saying is this-provide relevant information for the society to take periodic decisions on the kind of policing focus it wants. What it may do is increase the responsibility of all stakeholders towards better compliance as well as resource allocation. <br /><br />Increasing the circle of inclusiveness of decisions of government can delegate part of govt responsibilities to people, which in turn will, presumably make the people more responsible in their public actions. Clearly, for this to happen, governments should operate in limited, critical areas. <br /><br />Thanks for provoking thinking on this..Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03922656823483362508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post-3666989446828697142014-07-19T23:50:40.372+05:302014-07-19T23:50:40.372+05:30Some interesting and rather original inputs. Thank...Some interesting and rather original inputs. Thanks for sharing. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16765735317169221666noreply@blogger.com