THE GAME OF POLITICS
What has motivated me to reproduce here the views of
great thinkers about the game of politics is the way this game is being played
in our beloved country these days. To express my feelings in a single sentence,
I would recall the words of the three witches “Fair is foul, foul is fair, uttered
in the beginning of Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”.
Let us to begin with here see what
Gandhiji said about the game of politics. In fact, Gandhiji laid down the rules
of this game and followed them most faithfully. Politics, according to him, is a
mission, not a profession. He wrote in an issue of Young India, July 2,
1931: “Political power means capacity to regulate national life through
national representatives. If national life becomes so perfect as to become
self-regulated, no representation becomes necessary.” He could not conceive
politics as divorced from religious morality, so he says: “For me there is no politics without religion
–not the religion of the superstitions and the blind religion that hates and
fights, but the Universal Religion of Toleration. Politics without morality is
a thing to be avoided.
Almost a similar viewpoint is held
by the French diplomat and political scientist Alexis Charles Henry de
(1805-59), best known for his book Democracy in America” He said: The political parties that I would
call great, are those which cling more to principles than to consequences; to
general, and not to special cases; to ideas and not to men. ---Such parties are
usually distinguished by a nobler character, more generous passions, more
genuine convictions, and a more bold and open conduct than others.
Let us hear some other thinkers: (a)
Nothing is politically right which is morally wrong. Irish politician Daniel
O’Connell (1775-1847). (b) How little do politics affect the life, the moral
life of a nation. One single good book influences the people a vast deal more. English
statesman, William E. Gladstone (1809-98). (c) I hate all bungling as I do sin,
but particularly bungling in politics, which leads to the misery and ruin of
many thousands and millions of people. German poet, dramatist and philosopher
Goethe (1749-18320. (d) Two kinds of men generally best succeed in political
life; men of no principle, but of great talent; and men of no talent, but of
one principle ----- that of obedience to their superiors. American orator
Wendell Phillips (1811-1884). € By discharging our duty thoroughly and well,
subordinating personal desires to principle, and personal ambition to an
exalted love of country, we will not only receive the endorsement of the
people, but what is far better, we will deserve their endorsement. American
politician Champ Clarke (1858-1921).
And finally a casual reference to
the old Greek doctrine propounded by Aristotle (385-323 B.C.) and others that the
polis is the realization of beautiful-and-good,
on this earth and the state is the supreme moral end of life. Much later even Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), for all his defiance
of Christian morality, did have as a test of success , even for his Prince, a
state in which the good life showed traces of the old pagan ideals of the
beautiful-and-good.
So, let us try that the politicians
of our beloved country, whatever be their number, give up their belief in “Fair
is foul, foul is fair.”
---------
18th
July 2020 -----
G. R. KANWAL
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