India Uncut

In response to this post of mine, wasted_pseude writes in:

Interesting comment - that coalitions are why the Left is powerful. There is a subject called 'Political Economy' that discusses this at length.

In coalition politics the weaker or the smaller parties always have the maximum power because these parties have little to lose and lots to gain by holding the larger party to ransom. Look at how Jayalalitha toppled the BJP government sometime back.

Always the NGOs and the special interest groups flourish. The funda is very simple. For example what the Narmanda Bachao Andolan wants, they are more passionate about getting that than the mass which would benefit from more electricity.

The groups of goons who go about professing reservations in the private sector want it more than the general public who will lose jobs but since they are larger and there wont be a direct impact it is tough to mobilise the general public to fight back

So in the end the majority are not who make the policy or win in a democratic or political setup but the minority who can mobilise and have the intent to fight battle.

Fair point. The problem would not be so acute if individual freedoms, in both an economic and social sense, were protected by the constitution, and if there was an understanding that taxpayers' money can only be spent on a few essential things. But special interests groups abound, and so does pork.

Oink oink, they cried. Then the thugs came to my larder to steal my food and feed the pigs. Tell me, is it fair?