On federalism

The term federalism appears to have two connotations which, interestingly, are diametrically opposite.

For some, federalism embodies the principle of decentralized authority established around a framework of centralized rights. For others, the term stands to mean a state broken into divisions for administrative convenience but tightly ruled from the centre (the Centralist view, for example). Personally, I think the second is a perversion of the very idea of federalism, but thats not the point here. The diversity of opinions itself is the cause of wonder.

Take these two events, for example:

Last week, the Chief Minister of Kerala, V S Achuthanandan, staged a public demonstration in New Delhi to protest the Centre's negligence towards his state. Achuthanandan bemoaned the fact that the Centre is withholding various favors from his state such as rice quota, establishment of an IIT etc. Mind you, chief ministers are the executive heads of Indian states, and Kerala is better-off among other Indian state on many metrics.

In the same week, Raj Thackeray, a political leader in Maharashtra, encouraged his supporters to attack North Indian candidates who were visiting Mumbai to take an entrance exam for employment in the Indian Railways, a Centrally operated entity. “When there is availability here why should people from outside be called?”, asked one of his followers.

In a way, Achuthanandan and Thackeray both seem to be venting their own, but opposite, ideas of federalism.

Update: A few weeks back I had written about Centralists and their affinity for big powerful central governments (they also get mention in the above post). Then comes along this post on Retributions, one of the contributing blogs on the nationalist watering hole The Indian National Interest. While commenting on MNS violence, the writer asks "Is the Indian state so weak that it cannot take on a few hundred goondas?". As perfunctory as the question may be, I find it incredibly telling that the 'Indian state' even comes in the picture when talking about a law and order problem related to a relatively isolated regionalist movement. That 'state' and 'Indian state' are interchangeable in the writer's mind speaks volumes about his/her approach to a federal system of government.

Bailout as a window to the soul

My irrigator friends use a device called the Frequency Domain Reflectometry probe, also known as the FDR probe, to measure soil water content for establishing schedule and volume of water deliveries. Over the past few days, I had been amusing myself applying the socioeconomic variant of the "FDR probe" to commentators on the economic situation (politicians, columnists, bloggers, random strangers).

Recall that FDR (Franklin D Roosevelt) was president of America during the depression of the 1930s and is credited with engineering the New Deal, which is criticized by some as being too socialist.

On my FDR scale, those for whom government intervention is a foregone conclusion (and the only question is how) earn a perfect 10-FDR. At the other end are those who vehemently oppose any government intervention - they ring up a zero-FDR. Of course, interpretation of the results depends on which way the beholder's moral compass points; a perfect 10-FDR may actually be far, far from perfect.

My measurements on friends, acquaintances, and fellow travelers surprise me. There are no takers for the zero-FDR score. Those in the 1 to 5 scale are few. Most respondents scored 6- to 10-FDR and their concerns seemed to be limited to details - "hope executive pay is capped", "where is my bailout?", "my favorite blogger says the bailout should be administered differently", and so on.

Amused but disappointed, I had to finally turn to the Cato website to test the scale's lower ranges...

Vindication comes once in a lifetime

...and Chavez is making the best of it.

Said he during a recent TV show:

"If the Venezuelan government approves a law to protect consumers, they say, 'Take notice, Chavez is a tyrant!'. But now they don't criticize Bush for having to nationalise (the failing banks).

Comrade Bush, how are you?"

These are crazy times, no?

Constitution burnt on the steps of the Capitol

As was destined, the House of Representatives approved the bailout package yesterday. Ayn Rand's rant from Anthem comes to mind:

The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.

..."we", the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame.

I do appreciate the fact that while small government advocates (like the anti-bailout Congressman who banged his fists on the pulpit before the failed House vote and framed this vote as one pitting life against liberty, or something to that effect) may see this as disastrous capitulation, it is not so. The forces of we-ification in America were always present and the bailout is just another milestone (the said Congressman, a Republican, probably didnt think of his ideals when he voted for military adventures with public money - some wars being socialism of the worst order). But hey, there is a good time for symbolism and a bad time, and this is a good time.

Sidenote: Philosophy apart, I have always found Rand's material to be extremely irritating for various reasons. She comes across as sexist, a surprising characteristic for an advocate of individualism. Her infatuation with the outstanding beauty and intellect of her protagonists spills over as a flaw in her philosophy - it seems that one has to be tall, handsome, and very smart to qualify as a proud individual. The same infatuation also reflects in long-winding intercourses between her favorite characters wherein they mutually masturbate each others' pride and talents. Sweet and sappy, overwhelmingly so, a feeling akin to drinking gulabjamun syrup after the gulabjamuns are long finished.