Let Me Tell You A Story

[howeird]

This is tangentially related to what smallship1 said in my "don't vote" post.

When I joined the Peace Corps and went to Thailand in 1975, it was a democratic country, a constitutional monarchy similar to the UK. The king had no formal political power, but lots of well-earned respect. There was a Parliament, I can't remember if it was bicameral or just uni-, but it was elected by the people and the PM and cabinet was chosen by the majority party.

In 1976, as I was visiting Bangkok, there was a bloody coup. I missed being where the shooting was by about 10 minutes (I was walking towards Thamassat University, because I wanted to visit the museum there, when the army and gangs of conservative vocational students attacked protesting liberal students).

All newspapers in the country were closed down. All foreign magazines and newspapers which covered the coup were either confiscated or censored. Newsweek and Time were missing pages when they got to our library. Parliament was dissolved, nobody had the right to vote, it turns out, for another 5 years.

But here's where it all gets confusing. The democratic government was a mess. There was lots of corruption, lots of fat cats getting fatter, not a lot getting done because many high ranking ministers just were not qualified for their jobs. The military appointed a new cabinet, drawing from civilian experts in their fields. If I remember correctly, the head of the agricultural university was named ag minister, the chief justice became justice minister, and so on. Whatever the specifics, it seemed to me the military dictatorship did a far better job for the people than parliament had.

Not too surprising, because the military had mostly been educated at West Point, there was very close cooperation between the Thai generals and the American generals all through the Vietnam war, and like the US military, the Thai military are some of the most patriotic people on the planet. They almost immediately set a timetable for a new constitution and new elections. Thailand is in this phase again right now. It's kind of a routine cycle for them.

Having lived in a country with no right to vote, but a truly benevolent dictatorship which did more for the people than the democratically elected government ever did, I have very mixed feelings about the right to vote.

Comments

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

You have a good point.

The right to vote is only really important to the individual when you are a person who the government is not doing well by. For those who end up being on the "good" end of things it's not important (that's why aristocracy tends to be okay with royalty - at long as it keeps them in power). The oppressed tend to like it more when the government changes.

The problem is, you can't be sure your dictators will be good to you or when they're really going away. But in a place where the government changes through scheduled elections you at least know it's going to change.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

And, of course, the right to vote is also important if you know of the existence of people by whom the government is not doing well. George W Bush has not done me any personal harm, but I want him and his friends out (and someone who isn't his friend in) so bad it hurts, so the right to vote in America is plenty important to me right now.

If you have a despotism that does right by all the people, as the one in Thailand clearly did, then it's hard to see the value of replacing it with a democracy which could go either way. And if anyone thought the current government in America would be that kind of despotism, then I could understand them not being that concerned about having the right to change it. I might have a few small points of disagreement to take up with them, though.

[howeird]

you can't be sure your dictators will be good to you or when they're really going away
The same is true in a democracy. Carter screwed things up royally, despite looking like a refreshing change from Nixonian politics. It took a Constitutional amendment to limit the president to two terms, FDR was effectively voted President For Life. And Bush gave us his son to continue his abuses. We have had 12 years of Bush.