Politics: India, China, America

1. AMERICA [Scene: A school inspection]

Teacher: Good morning, sir.
Inspector: Good morning.
Teacher: Welcome to our school.
Inspector: Thank you.
Teacher: Our school is the best school in the city. Our boys are the best boys in the city.
Inspector: Really?
Teacher: Yes, sir.
Inspector: Can you show me some of your boys?
Teacher (points to 1st boy in 1st bench): This is John. He is our 1st rank student. He will study law, enter politics and become President of the country.
Inspector: Excellent!!!
Teacher (points to 2nd boy in 1st bench): This is James. He is our 2nd rank student. He will study law, enter politics and become Governor of the state.
Inspector: Excellent!!
Teacher (points to 3rd boy in 1st bench): This is Joseph. He is our 3rd rank student. He will study law, enter politics and become Mayor of the city.
Inspector: Excellent!
Inspector (points to the boy in last bench): What about him?
Teacher (embarrassed): He is Alex. He has flunked 3 years in a row.
Inspector: Don't worry. He will drop out and become a drug addict. Then he'll become a rock star.

2. CHINA [Scene: A school inspection]

Teacher: Good morning, sir.
Inspector: Good morning.
Teacher: Welcome to our school.
Inspector: Thank you.
Teacher: Our school is the best school in the city. Our boys are the best boys in the city.
Inspector: Really?
Teacher: Yes, sir.
Inspector: Can you show me some of your boys?
Teacher (points to 1st boy in 1st bench): This is Chang. He is our 1st rank student. He will study engineering, join the government and become President of the country.
Inspector: Excellent!!!
Teacher (points to 2nd boy in 1st bench): This is Ching. He is our 2nd rank student. He will study engineering, join the government and become Governor of the province.
Inspector: Excellent!!
Teacher (points to 3rd boy in 1st bench): This is Chung. He is our 3rd rank student. He will study engineering, join the government and become Mayor of the city.
Inspector: Excellent!
Inspector (points to the boy in last bench): What about him?
Teacher (embarrassed): He is Cho. He has flunked 3 years in a row.
Inspector: Don't worry. He will drop out and learn kung fu. Then he'll become a movie star.

3. INDIA [Scene: A school inspection]

Teacher: Good morning, sir.
Inspector: Good morning.
Teacher: Welcome to our school.
Inspector: Thank you.
Teacher: Our school is the best school in the city. Our boys are the best boys in the city.
Inspector: Really?
Teacher: Yes, sir.
Inspector: Can you show me some of your boys?
Teacher (points to 1st boy in 1st bench): This is Rama. He is our 1st rank student. He will study medicine and become a doctor.
Inspector: Excellent!!!
Teacher (points to 2nd boy in 1st bench): This is Shyama. He is our 2nd rank student. He will study engineering and become an engineer.
Inspector: Excellent!!
Teacher (points to 3rd boy in 1st bench): This is Bhima. He is our 3rd rank student. He will study management and become a manager.
Inspector: Excellent!
Inspector (points to the boy in last bench): What about him?
Teacher (embarrassed): He is Timma. He has flunked 3 years in a row.
Inspector: Don't worry. He will drop out and become a politician. He will become a corporator, MLA and MP. He may become Chief Minister or even Prime Minister.

India's Middle Class and Politics

Q: Why does India's middle class not participate in politics?

Middle class is a modern/industrial class. But Indian society is not yet an industrial society. It is still an agricultural society. Worse, it is a feudal society. So India's middle class is an industrial island in an agricultural/feudal ocean. An industrial society runs on merit, knowledge and education. A feudal society runs on money, muscle and caste.

A country's politics is a function of its society. That is, a country's politics is decided by what kind of society it has. An industrial society has industrial politics – ie, professional knowledge-based politics. A feudal society has feudal politics – ie, the politics of money, muscle and caste. Since India is a feudal society, it has money-muscle-caste politics.

Since the middle class is an industrial class, it has only merit, knowledge and education – but not money, muscle and caste. So it is unable to operate in India's money-muscle-caste politics.

Therefore the Indian middle class does not participate in politics.

Middle Class Indians' Marriage Obsession

Middle class Indians are obsessed with marriage. But there is a small exception to this rule:

Group	% obsessed with marriage
Brahmins	99%
Non-Brahmins	100%

Why is it so?

In ancient/traditional India, there were two types of people:
1. Grihasthas (householders)
2. Sanyasis (ascetics)

The vast majority of the people were Grihasthas. They married, had children and took care of their families. That is, they pursued Kama and Artha. Then there were a few Sanyasis. These stayed single and devoted themselves completely to working for society or to spirituality. That is, they pursued either Dharma or Moksha.

Both these options were open to all the Varnas. But since only Brahmanas had knowledge, only they (ie, a few of them) became Sanyasis. Since non-Brahmanas did not have knowledge, none of them became Sanyasis; they were all Grihasthas only. Thus society became like this:

Group	Grihasthas	Sanyasis
Brahmanas	99%	1%
Non-Brahmanas	100%	0%

This system has existed for 3000 years. So today's society is a result of 3000 years of social programming – which is very powerful. Therefore we have the situation described by the first table. Non-Brahmins (most of them) know only one thing: make money, marry and have children. But Brahmins (a few at least) are aware of an alternate path: devote oneself completely to society or to spirituality.

Thus the middle class Indian marriage obsession has a small Brahmin exception. But among non-Brahmins, it is total.

The Sanyasi system is and should be an exception. If everybody becomes a Sanyasi, then society will cease to exist.