I'm not unhappy with the way things are in Singapore, yet. It is worrying, as I learn more about the other side that they try to cover from our eyes. I'm not too familiar with the compulsory longevity insurance thing, so my mind isn't much affected by it.
What worries me is that our leaders are unable to do anything dynamic to regain our trust. Over the decades, the trust of the people in them has waned. Slowly, we realize that not everything they seem to be saying, are true. Whatever happened to their promise to stop raising costs, which someone seems to have made in the last election?
It is true that not many trust them now. But is this what a leader is supposed to be? To be somewhat respected, but not trusted?
I now see that democracy is not the ideal choice. It is the best choice only when no good leader is around and willing. When no true leadership is available, a group of mediocre leaders will be the best option. An example of a true leader is Otto von Bismarck, a cunning diplomat who rarely gets into a disadvantaged position. Pity Wilheim II ruined what he had created over his lifetime.
A real leader brings his nation forward, and ahead of others. A mediocre leader brings his nation forward, but maintains the status quo. A poor leader stagnates the development, or worse, cause degeneration.
What democracy can do, is to limit what the leaders can achieve, whether good or bad. By allowing each leader a maximum number of years to serve, he cannot do great harm to his own country.
But this, too, means that a good leader cannot be at his best in a democracy, because he does not have the time to achieve what great leaders in the past can create over a lifetime of hard work. He is also limited by a myriad of rules and regulation and other obstacles, because his rule isn't absolute.
Even if he gets into a position where he can have, indirectly, absolute rule, the fact that he is doing so indirectly reduces his efficiency. For one, he will always need to present his ideas in a way that is acceptable to the people, and may have to wait for the right time to do so.
In a way, we are sacrificing the chance of great progress for a safe and stagnant world.
But isn't this what civilization has always been about? Safety?
Civilization was invented as a safe haven for women, so that men can get laid and go on with life. This seems to make sense, really. It is the basic instinct of men to want to have sex. It is the basic instinct of women to search for a safe environment for the family. Civilization solves Problem 2, and thus solving Problem 1.
By giving up clubbing each other over the head over the smallest excuse, men get to have sex more often. Fair deal.
Going back to democracy, it can be concluded that humans in general prefer not to gamble. Man has learnt that possible consequences of gambling, and now prefers to stay his hand. Or has he?
Theonlinecitizen blog claims to be neutral, but I find the ideas in there a little paranoid a few times in the past. More than half the time, they present analyses of current issues that are not what is shown in ther mainstream media. But there are just a few instances where I find them overboard.
It's not wrong to suspect the worst, but I find it wrong that so few standing up. It is their country! They are supposed to be a democracy, but if they have never voted for their President before, how long will it be before they start to call their system a dictatorship?
It is not just that they've always got one possible candidate for our Presidents. The fear of speaking against the government must also be taken into account. When no one says something, it doesn't mean no one is thinking it. When one person says something, it means many are thinking it.
And with the highest pay in the world, the ministers had better be the best in the world. Whatever they are doing up there, we expect extraordinary results, not just what we have always got. They said they were "extraordinary" after all. If what we get is what everyone else in the world is getting, what would be "extraordinary" here? My gullibility?
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