|
|
|
Archive for May, 2011
Renaissance Science and a ‘Fair Dinkum’ Australian Politician
Some people mourn an aspect of political candour that existed in Australia during the era of the 20th Century’s political struggle to ensure educational opportunities for the working class. A sense of Australia ‘doing right’ to ‘get somewhere’ or to ‘forge ahead’, existed in contrast to the 21st Century’s ‘spin doctoring’, with its continual reference to various complex financial graphs and charts. The Australian term ‘fair dinkum’ was a colloquial expression used to denote an opinion that was genuinely held with no reservations. ‘Fair Go’ was associated with the making of reasonable judgemental policies and the term ‘using your Nous’ was another popular term, referring to using one’s common-sense. Master tradesman often exhorted their apprentices to use their Nous to solve problems.
A fair dinkum Aussie Pollie, in that bygone era, used his or her Nous to ensure a fair deal, and such a person became a well respected Australian politician. The Australian Federal Minster, Simon Crean, had earned such a reputation, along with the rough and tumble criticism from those who put profits ahead of all else. Simon Crean devoted his life creating educational opportunities for fellow Australians, be they unemployed tradespeople or those engaged in fields of higher education.
Tags: australian politician, colloquial expression, financial graphs, nobel laureates, platonic tradition, renaissance science, simon creanRelated posts
The Non-Political Make the Best Politicians
Like all career options, a career in politics, too, has its own particular requirements. Cunningness, meanness, trickery and treachery are some of the unholy elements that the holiness of a political god is generally supposed to be composed of. Most of our youngsters find themselves quite incapable of inculcating these, for, obviously, it would take a lifetime of unlearning whatever little they absentmindedly picked up in their moral science classes. The position adds upto a situation where we have a number of able politicians, but not a single good man among them. Not to mention that it is when the term ‘good’ is considered in its bare minimal import. But still we might not have lost all that we started off with on the day Pandit Nehru delivered his ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech. After all, noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani is not wrong when he optimistically notes that he (and we) at least has an honest Prime Minister. If after fifty years of rotten politics we could still put an unquestionably honest man at the top, it is no mean achievement. It is reflective of the fact that, sooner or later honesty pays. And pays, well enough. One need not essentially lose all of one’s human self to become a politician.
The bottomline is that a career in politics is only and essentially for those who do not treat it as a career at all. The desire to build, not just a party and not just a government, but also the nation has to be central to one’s political ambitions. Politics may be the art of securing political power and retaining it, but the power, once secured, has to be used for nobler ends than perpetuation of it. Power used to garner more and more power would lead only, and only, to the erosion of it. That is what our politicians basically fail to realize. Therefore, ideally politics is for those who are not passionate about it. That might sound a little unconventional, but the basic requirement for one to be a good politician is one who does not want to be a politician and has no hunger for power. Politics for political ends will always be bad politics. Not that we have not had wise people in positions of power, but their wisdom evaporated under the intoxication of power. Power corrupts, and only those who have no huger for power are immune to its ill effects. Therefore, the best politician is one who is least of a politician. It is a combination almost impossible to find, just like an honest politician.
Tags: human self, man at the top, moral science, political ambitions, ram jethmalani, tryst with destiny, tryst with destiny speechRelated posts