Government tells us what we can and can’t do and sets limits on how things can be done. Any of us remembers when our parents didn’t allow us to do certain things while other kids were encouraged to do the very same ones. We know how it feels to argue with our parents, there is nothing nice about it.
Voting for a political party out of whom a government is formed is an act of selecting parents. But, how do you select parents? Mummy and daddy used to be knowns in an equation, not unknowns. How do we approach this puzzle?
Let’s imagine that you’re an orphan and you have this exclusive opportunity to select your own parents (which most don’t have). At first you feel excited, because for once you’re in charge. Foster home people provide you with limitless number of cues who you future parents should be — wealthy, nice, caring, with no other kids, etc. But for you, what matters, is to be heard. You feel neglected by others — most people have parents while you don’t. So, parents who will listen to you are the way to go. But, how to you find people who will listen to you?
You got this provocative idea — you will invite all possible candidates for interviews to argue with them. Of course, you don’t disclose your strategy to future mummy and daddy not mentioning foster home staff, because who wants arguing kids — no one.
You’re a smart kiddo, so you ask your to-be parents very simple questions and look whether they answer with legless opinions or conclusions based on some legwork. What surprises you is that most wannabe parents have never done any legwork in their lives, and everything they say is borrowed from TV, newspapers, internet and gurus. You know that for sure, because their answers are murky and often end with ‘because that is the way it should be done’ or ‘other people do it’ or ‘experts says so’ or ‘have done it so I know it’.
This doesn’t sit well with you, because you are aware that outsourced conclusions can’t be challenged by you. These conclusions can’t be challenged, because they are based on authority — not observation. Authority is what you certainly don’t have as a kid, but you are a keen observer. So, you go for parents who can argue based on observation, not authority, because this guarantees your voice will be heard.
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