The Great Schmoozola

“A free tablet computer for every child in year six” the candidate said to the crowd as he paused for the cheers and applause. “Apart from this investment in our childrens' future, we also pledge to reduce electricity bills by 20%”. As one promise is laid on top of another, the huge crowd throngs the streets with their coloured banners.

I’m paraphrasing real electoral promises made in a recent election. The campaign was dominated by politicians desperately trying to outbid each other and offer more free goodies to the voting public. Of course this is what they must do, for we have taught them that the most generous program will get elected - provided the electorate maintains it’s suspension of disbelief and the promises seem remotely feasible.

Therein lies the incentive for the candidate, who might be well-intentioned and might believe he can deliver on his promises, without burdening society with the cost. Buy them out. Politics is all about principles; you have to forget you have any. We are all in business and politicians are in the business of getting elected. Unfortunately, these gifts we are promised are gifts bought with our own ends. The government doesn't have any money, it can only spend what it takes from us.

The centrist, centre-left and centre-right parties all play the same game. Some run a huge deficit, others run deficits of astronomic proportions. Responsibility lasts until the next election. A week is a long time in politics, four years, an eternity. As the differences between the center parties disappears, voters turn apathetic and turn to the fringe parties whose fanatical members offer a real, and often terrifyingly bad alternative.

This is a serious flaw in the current implementation of our democracy. Elections increasingly become popularity contests and everyone with a plan to reign in the gravy train has no chance of getting into office.

“You won’t get anything done by electing the right people. The way you get things done is by making it profitable for the wrong people to do the right things” Friedman teaches us. After all, we only get the government we ask for, the one we deserve. If enough people understand the dangers of populism they will reject it. The same politicians would scramble to cut spending and lower taxes.

This can be done. The electorate is not a mass of unthinking sheep. After all, there have been times, though admittedly few, when progress in this area has been made. Ultimately, the best safeguard would be real constitutional limits on the power of government. Limits that would prevent irresponsible spending and populist promises. But in the end, even such legal limits are only as good as the people they preside over.

It's not the size of the monument that counts...