Q: The question remained unanswered in the previous show: why does Government need higher and higher tax revenues?
A: Purpose of the Government is to spend as much as possible under any circumstance. The higher is the Government expenditure higher is the value and importance of the Govt. The number of problems afflicting the country is never going down. The Government must solve all these problems like new diseases, new religions, new types of marriages, movement of people across borders, promotion or saving of democracy elsewhere, aid to poor people globally, maintaining external diplomatic policy for alliances and international peace, maintain and grow establishments to regulate the behavior of human beings in so many different areas of their activities, promote education and health care, ensure adequate care for the babies, education for the children, health care for the poor, ensure adequate income for retired senior citizens, care for the mothers, care for the workers, care for the immigrants, care for the wild life, care for the drug addicts and smokers, care for the unemployed, care for the mentally and physically handicapped, care for the sports persons, care for the teachers, care for.. . Such a caring institutions like Govt. needs lots of money because care cannot come without cost. So Government requires increasing amounts of money.
Q: Why can't every one care for themselves?
A: First, many people do not have money to care for themselves. Like children or old people. Second, private care is costly to buy: Govt care comes almost free. Third, many people just do not care either for them or for others and so Government has to enter. Fourth, many people do not know how best to care: this is known only to Govt. because Govt. can buy the best knowledge wholesale at the cheapest cost and make available that knowledge virtually free to all. Finally, what happens when there is bad recession like the one we currently have? Govt. has to spend to raise demand and arrest recession and stop prices from falling to levels at which no producer or seller will be willing to produce and sell. And, when big banks are about to fall, Govt. has to save them by giving them money as otherwise many people will lose jobs and many persons savings with such banks may erode in value significantly. Govt. therefore needs money to bail out big firms and their employees.
Q: Where does the Govt. get all this increasing amount of money from? It just prints currencies?
A: Unfortunately printing currencies does not itself get Government purchasing power to finance its spending. If the Govt. prints double the amount of currency now available and starts using that currency, it results in higher demand for whatever govt. wants to purchase. Given the fixed supply of goods and services available at any point of time, higher demand results in higher prices. So Govt. may buy but some other individual and firm buyers have to be satisfied with lower quantity of purchases than before. Yes, through inflation other people's buying is reduced and Govt. spends with printed currency. Since Govt. is caring and does not like people to suffer from inflation in this manner, Govt. tries to spend by (a) raising tax revenues, (b) charging fees for giving its services and (c) taking loans from the people who save from their income.
Q: Does that mean that govt. takes a portion of the income of individuals and firms in some manner to spend?
A: Correct. Govt. taxes the income of individuals and firms means transferring income of individuals to Govt. by law. When individuals purchase something they pay a higher price than what the sellers keep for themselves because the seller gives a portion of the price paid by the purchaser to the Govt. as sales tax or value added tax. All these are straight transfer of income from individuals and firms to Govt. But such taxes and fees collected by the Govt. seldom proves adequate to meet govt.'s growing expenditure. So, govt must raise taxes, charge higher fees and just borrow from individuals and firms. Most Governments therefore run huge deficits that are covered by taking loans from individuals and firms.
Q: But how will a Govt. always in deficit repay the loans it takes and pay interest on such loans?
A: Simple. The Govt. takes more and more loans again and again. After all there will always be some rich persons who will have large savings and whatever poor people saves goes into banks and mutual funds which in turn gives loans to Govt.
Q: Then, people must get angry with the Govt. taking away their incomes through taxes and taking away their savings that are never effectively returned?
A: You are right, people get angry. So, govt is careful to see that there are more and more people who pay very little taxes and very little direct loans to Govt That is why taxes are high on rich people and low on poor people. In some countries poor people who do not pay income taxes or pay very little are the vast majority. And, that is what democracy is all about. Democracy is the rule of the majority and majority must be least taxed. Then the majority will vote for one govt. or the other.
Q: What happens to the minority of tax payers?
A: They protest for sometime and then try to reduce their income so that they have to pay less taxes. This helps sustain democracy with more and more people joining the ranks of low tax paying class. Those who are unwilling to reduce their income, try to evade taxes or just keep paying high taxes.
Q: But tax evasion is bad and criminal offence.
A: So, most people therefore reduce their work effort and income. Except the corporations. Bigger corporations try to increase their income. Their incomes should ultimately flow down to the shareholders but the Govt. is clever enough to tax away part of the income before they get distributed to shareholder of these companies. And, since there are millions of shareholders they do not really come to realize that the Govt. is taking away a part of their incomes that would come through the companies. Specially, the Government, the media and the intelligentsia keeps telling the people that it is the corporations who create most nuisances like pollution, job cuts, lower wages, higher prices, fat salaries and bonuses for executives to the detriment of the shareholders, flout accounting principles and prudential codes. So higher the taxes on corporations the better are the voters pleased.
Q; But heavily taxed corporations may ultimately get into trouble?
A: They do. But that maybe taken up in the next episode day next time.
Apr 30, 2009
Apr 21, 2009
Maximizing Tax
Taxing Democracy
The oldest democracy of the latest epoch of politics is under turmoil. Some citizens are up against proposal to raise taxes on earnings above a cut-off limit. They organized tea parties that those who like others to be taxed as racists and irrational. Those who wanted taxes to be rationalized and reduced, and nt increased, felt sad and dejected with the apprehension of a higher taxes on all of them soon. God felt pity for them and sent them an answering machine that would make them happy if they seek answers to their questions.
The answering machine was installed by TV channel and the Question and Answer show was telecast live. Here is the transcript.
Q: Who has sent you here?
A: The God of Democratic Science.
Q; What's Democratic Science?
A: It's the Science of Society developed democratically.
Q: What's the purpose of this science?
A: To eradicate all exploitation and unfair social practices.
Q: Why is it called a Science?
A: It is a Science because it is the most democratic. It's hypothesis are logically and empirically verified to be correct.
Q: Why has God sent you here?
A: To enable you to get answers to your questions so that you become wise listening to me and forget your worries like the one arising from the threat of higher taxes.
Q: Can we ask you questions?
A: Yes, as many as you like. But only one at a time. That is the reason I am in this REALITY show.
Q. Why should taxes be raised?
A: Because taxes are lower now and can be lowered again if required.
Q: Doesn't higher taxes mean suffering for the tax payers?
A: No. higher tax are beneficial to all. When taxes are raised, they incentivize some people to reduce income to reduce tax incidence and reduce economic disparities. Some people get the incentive to become innovators of devices to evade taxes. Some others happily pay taxes.
Q: But why should one pay taxes at all?
A: Because it has been decided democratically to tax as much as the democratically elected Governments wish to spend.
Q: Why should Governments spend as much as they like?
A: Because that has been decided by democratically elected representatives who legislate.
Q: But why do democratically elected legislators decide to tax or raise taxes/
A: Because that is the way to strengthen democracy. Most people are poor and do not like to pay taxes and want richer people to pay more and more taxes. The representatives want to get votes. They must become popular. That is why they legislate for higher and higher and more and more taxes.
Q: Isn't that contradictory to become popular by imposing higher taxes?
A: Not really. What is the percentage of current voters in the total number of voters. Not the dominant one. With higher cut-offs in the lower range, the percentage will continuously decline. More people will vote for higher taxes because most people will not get hurt by higher taxes. Rather,a dis utility of a voter paying an additional dollar as taxes is much lower than the utility derived by the voters who do not pay taxes (or pay lower taxes) from additional dollar of tax paid by someone else. This is called externality in (negative) tax consumption. So higher taxes are very popular as per democratic science principles.
Q: But why do Govt. need higher and higher tax revenues?
A: We have no more time for this episode of the show. Wait for the next episode next day next time.
The oldest democracy of the latest epoch of politics is under turmoil. Some citizens are up against proposal to raise taxes on earnings above a cut-off limit. They organized tea parties that those who like others to be taxed as racists and irrational. Those who wanted taxes to be rationalized and reduced, and nt increased, felt sad and dejected with the apprehension of a higher taxes on all of them soon. God felt pity for them and sent them an answering machine that would make them happy if they seek answers to their questions.
The answering machine was installed by TV channel and the Question and Answer show was telecast live. Here is the transcript.
Q: Who has sent you here?
A: The God of Democratic Science.
Q; What's Democratic Science?
A: It's the Science of Society developed democratically.
Q: What's the purpose of this science?
A: To eradicate all exploitation and unfair social practices.
Q: Why is it called a Science?
A: It is a Science because it is the most democratic. It's hypothesis are logically and empirically verified to be correct.
Q: Why has God sent you here?
A: To enable you to get answers to your questions so that you become wise listening to me and forget your worries like the one arising from the threat of higher taxes.
Q: Can we ask you questions?
A: Yes, as many as you like. But only one at a time. That is the reason I am in this REALITY show.
Q. Why should taxes be raised?
A: Because taxes are lower now and can be lowered again if required.
Q: Doesn't higher taxes mean suffering for the tax payers?
A: No. higher tax are beneficial to all. When taxes are raised, they incentivize some people to reduce income to reduce tax incidence and reduce economic disparities. Some people get the incentive to become innovators of devices to evade taxes. Some others happily pay taxes.
Q: But why should one pay taxes at all?
A: Because it has been decided democratically to tax as much as the democratically elected Governments wish to spend.
Q: Why should Governments spend as much as they like?
A: Because that has been decided by democratically elected representatives who legislate.
Q: But why do democratically elected legislators decide to tax or raise taxes/
A: Because that is the way to strengthen democracy. Most people are poor and do not like to pay taxes and want richer people to pay more and more taxes. The representatives want to get votes. They must become popular. That is why they legislate for higher and higher and more and more taxes.
Q: Isn't that contradictory to become popular by imposing higher taxes?
A: Not really. What is the percentage of current voters in the total number of voters. Not the dominant one. With higher cut-offs in the lower range, the percentage will continuously decline. More people will vote for higher taxes because most people will not get hurt by higher taxes. Rather,a dis utility of a voter paying an additional dollar as taxes is much lower than the utility derived by the voters who do not pay taxes (or pay lower taxes) from additional dollar of tax paid by someone else. This is called externality in (negative) tax consumption. So higher taxes are very popular as per democratic science principles.
Q: But why do Govt. need higher and higher tax revenues?
A: We have no more time for this episode of the show. Wait for the next episode next day next time.
Monarchs of Democracy
Flourishing Democratic, Republic Monarchs in the Third Millennium
The recent fall of the King in Nepal did not herald the end of the last remains of Monarchy in human civilization. Old wine in a new bottle is more attractive and addictive but the toxicity and the taste remain intact. The philosophers, dead long ago after they had propounded and argued for Democracy and Republics may be happy that virtually all countries in the modern world are democracies and / or republics; but the fact remains Monarchs have proliferated and flourished since I had studied Modern World History as a school student 45 years ago. The chapters on the rise of the Parliament in Great Britain, the French Revolution and failure of Napoleon to establish a dynastic rule, the American War of Independence and Abraham Lincoln, the Marxian call for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the Russian Revolution, the mysticism of Mao’s People Republic of China and the socialism of East European states and finally the establishment of the Socialist Democratic Republic in India (not secular at that time) were fascinating and absorbing readings in history that would have firmly convinced the teenagers that the earth had been cleansed of Monarchial atrocities, exploitation and oppression.
Forty-five years down the line, Democracies and Republics of the World can boast of a distinct class of monarchs who are much more powerful, wealthier, dishonest, exploitative, oppressive and irresponsible than the monarchs that ruled the World for centuries until, say 300 years ago. We now have much richer countries throughout the World that can afford more monarchs to enjoy life than before. Such monarchs have proliferated and flourished in religious democracies like Iran, peoples’ republics like China, secular democratic republics like India, post-glasnost democracy in Russia, Military-controlled democracies in Bangladesh and Pakistan, Communist democracies like Cuba and North Korea, strife-ridden democracies in Africa and Latin America and economic disaster spreading, color-blind democracy like the United States of America.
To find out the reality and identify the modern monarchs and their kingdoms, one needs to lift the democratic / republic veil.
2. Before one is able to lift the veil, it may be worthwhile recollecting little that one knows about the formal definitions and practice of different organizational forms of the political state in different countries. Monarchy is the single or sole ruler of a state, the hereditary (often constitutional) head of a state like king or queen, or is a person or thing that surpasses others of the same kind. A monarch enjoys supreme and absolute power as the head of state, for life or until abdication, and "is wholly set apart from all other members of the state”. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medievall times. Holding unlimited political power in the state is not the defining characteristic, as many constitutional monarchies such as the United Kingdom and Thailand are considered monarchies. Hereditary may be a common characteristic, but there are elective monarchies like the pope, sovereign of the Vatican City State, is elected by the College of Cardinals). On the other hand, some states may have hereditary rulers and yet call themselves as republics (the Dutch Republic, or the Fiji.
3. In a republic state, the people (or at least a part of its people) have an impact on its government: In most modern republics, the head of state is termed president. In republics democratic republics like India, the head of state is selected for a given period of time or term/s, with / without restriction, through a direct or indirect election. This type of democracy was used in ancient India and Rome. If the head of state of a republic is at the same time the head of government, this is called a presidential system (United States). In semi-presidential systems and parliamentary republics, the head of state is different from the head of government prime minister/premier/ chancellor. Republic head of state may have the characteristics of a monarch: some republics have republics a president with life-long tenure and powers to make the post hereditary (Syrian Arab Republic). Monarchies can also resemble a republic in some ways: the political power of monarchs may be purely ceremonial or the monarch may be replaced by the people through some kind of referendrum.
4. Republics are often associated with democracy but there does not seem to be one to one correspondence. Before the concept of "one equal vote per adult" got generally around the middle of the last century, in all democracies the right to vote depended on one's financial situation, sex, race, age, etc. Political parties in many representative democracies fear and abhor direct democratic instrument like referendum. Marxist and communist republics / democracies that seek to establish the dictatorship of the proletariats seldom allow political freedom and hate reforms like glasnost and perestroika of Gorvachov in Russia. In Cuba’s basic democracy, "popular committees" allow participation from citizens at the local level but far-reaching political power is beyond the proletariat mass. However, the communist / socialist rulers have used the term’s peoples’ republic and people’s democracies quite extensivelt to describe countries like China, former East Germany, North Korea and Mongolia and other countries that practised complete totalitarianism and hence were essentially opposite to the concept of either democracy or republic.
6. In a democracy, power is held directly or indirectly by citizens under a free electoral system and ideally supposed to be based on two principles: (a) all members of the society (citizens) should have equal access to power and (b) all members (citizens) enjoy universally recognized freedoms and liberties. No real world democracy seemed to have fully adopted these principles in practice. Democracies do not as yet know how to reconcile through democratic process "majority rule" and mionority rights, neither has it been possible to establish procedures that are fair and ensure substantive competitive elections. Marxist revolutionary, Che Gievara, once said "Democracy cannot consist solely of elections that are nearly always fictitious and managed by rich landowners and professional politicians." Real world democracies have so far failed to devised mechanisms that would make democracy an efficient social / political system. Efficiency of democracy depends on the assumptions of rational voters, competitive elections, and relatively low political transactions costs: these assumptions are far not valid in reality.
Voters are highly uninformed about many political issues, especially relating to economics. Even if they have information they are and politically conscious, they are generally poor interpreters of information. Different sections of the societies are often strongly biassed by their sectional interests rather than the national interests. While on the one hand, democracy has remained grossly inefficient as a political system, the communists, religious leaders and conservatives tied to cultural traditions dislike attempts to make democracies more efficient because democratic freedom leads to questioning of the authority of rulers and leaders, of the cultural and social codes in favor of respect to the clergy and the seniors and even of the powers of God.
7. If the real world democracies and republics are in so weak state and so poor in quality despite the politicians claim that democracies and republics are the best form of poltical organization, it is hardly surprising that these political regimes have become active breeding grounds of and covers for implicit monarchs and monarchies. Essentially, the concept of democracy is merely an extension of the concept of democracy. It accepts the fundamental superiority of and absolute power of the Ruler in relation to all other citizens of a State. The concept of democracy does not question the distinction of the Ruler and the Ruled. It only establishes procedures and a rational for such procedures for choosing the ruler: the Ruler in a demcracy is chosen by some form of selection process in which citizens participate and this participation of the citizens in the choice of the Ruler by majority votes is believed to be a good thing in that each citizen can perceive to have enjoyed equal power in choosing the Ruler by casting his/ her vote. Just as in the case of Monarchies, there is not just a single person Ruler in practice. Beyond the size of a family, the ruler of a group has often to be a team headed by a leader: there would be various government departments and minister and bureaucracies through which administration of the Ruler functions. Democracies and republics may also allow citizens participation in the choice of the entire Ruler network from the national level to provincial level to local area level. The ruler network is hierarchial not only in terms of geographical areas but also in terms of functional areas like legislation, administration of policies, internal security, external security, economy management, international relations, etc.
8. The essential emphasis is only on the choice of the Rulers at various levels through some process of election/ selection by the citizens. Clearly, a large number of Rulers of varying powers are chosen and once chosen each elected ruler is free to enjoy the power to rule over others in the respective jurisdiction. Democracies and Republics are nothing but legimising the rulers by making the citizens feel that they enjoy the ultimate power to elect the rulers who will actually enjoy the real powers to rule. Democracies and republics are therefore are formal systems of creation of monarchs. These have really nothing to with justice, equality, peace, progress or efficiency and does not contribute in any way to fulfilling national aspirations or eradication of poverty or protection of human rights or eradication of corruption. The probability of having a good king delivering good governance for 40 years in a period of say 200 years of monarchy is higher than the probability of good governance for 40 years in 200 years of democratic or republic rule.
The above may appear strong negative assertions about democracy and republic rule. But if one closely studies the inherent structure of democracies and republics and evaluate the empirical evidence, it would become clear that democracies and republics are nothing but weaker versions of essentially monarchial form of government. We will explore these assertions in this series.
The recent fall of the King in Nepal did not herald the end of the last remains of Monarchy in human civilization. Old wine in a new bottle is more attractive and addictive but the toxicity and the taste remain intact. The philosophers, dead long ago after they had propounded and argued for Democracy and Republics may be happy that virtually all countries in the modern world are democracies and / or republics; but the fact remains Monarchs have proliferated and flourished since I had studied Modern World History as a school student 45 years ago. The chapters on the rise of the Parliament in Great Britain, the French Revolution and failure of Napoleon to establish a dynastic rule, the American War of Independence and Abraham Lincoln, the Marxian call for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the Russian Revolution, the mysticism of Mao’s People Republic of China and the socialism of East European states and finally the establishment of the Socialist Democratic Republic in India (not secular at that time) were fascinating and absorbing readings in history that would have firmly convinced the teenagers that the earth had been cleansed of Monarchial atrocities, exploitation and oppression.
Forty-five years down the line, Democracies and Republics of the World can boast of a distinct class of monarchs who are much more powerful, wealthier, dishonest, exploitative, oppressive and irresponsible than the monarchs that ruled the World for centuries until, say 300 years ago. We now have much richer countries throughout the World that can afford more monarchs to enjoy life than before. Such monarchs have proliferated and flourished in religious democracies like Iran, peoples’ republics like China, secular democratic republics like India, post-glasnost democracy in Russia, Military-controlled democracies in Bangladesh and Pakistan, Communist democracies like Cuba and North Korea, strife-ridden democracies in Africa and Latin America and economic disaster spreading, color-blind democracy like the United States of America.
To find out the reality and identify the modern monarchs and their kingdoms, one needs to lift the democratic / republic veil.
2. Before one is able to lift the veil, it may be worthwhile recollecting little that one knows about the formal definitions and practice of different organizational forms of the political state in different countries. Monarchy is the single or sole ruler of a state, the hereditary (often constitutional) head of a state like king or queen, or is a person or thing that surpasses others of the same kind. A monarch enjoys supreme and absolute power as the head of state, for life or until abdication, and "is wholly set apart from all other members of the state”. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medievall times. Holding unlimited political power in the state is not the defining characteristic, as many constitutional monarchies such as the United Kingdom and Thailand are considered monarchies. Hereditary may be a common characteristic, but there are elective monarchies like the pope, sovereign of the Vatican City State, is elected by the College of Cardinals). On the other hand, some states may have hereditary rulers and yet call themselves as republics (the Dutch Republic, or the Fiji.
3. In a republic state, the people (or at least a part of its people) have an impact on its government: In most modern republics, the head of state is termed president. In republics democratic republics like India, the head of state is selected for a given period of time or term/s, with / without restriction, through a direct or indirect election. This type of democracy was used in ancient India and Rome. If the head of state of a republic is at the same time the head of government, this is called a presidential system (United States). In semi-presidential systems and parliamentary republics, the head of state is different from the head of government prime minister/premier/ chancellor. Republic head of state may have the characteristics of a monarch: some republics have republics a president with life-long tenure and powers to make the post hereditary (Syrian Arab Republic). Monarchies can also resemble a republic in some ways: the political power of monarchs may be purely ceremonial or the monarch may be replaced by the people through some kind of referendrum.
4. Republics are often associated with democracy but there does not seem to be one to one correspondence. Before the concept of "one equal vote per adult" got generally around the middle of the last century, in all democracies the right to vote depended on one's financial situation, sex, race, age, etc. Political parties in many representative democracies fear and abhor direct democratic instrument like referendum. Marxist and communist republics / democracies that seek to establish the dictatorship of the proletariats seldom allow political freedom and hate reforms like glasnost and perestroika of Gorvachov in Russia. In Cuba’s basic democracy, "popular committees" allow participation from citizens at the local level but far-reaching political power is beyond the proletariat mass. However, the communist / socialist rulers have used the term’s peoples’ republic and people’s democracies quite extensivelt to describe countries like China, former East Germany, North Korea and Mongolia and other countries that practised complete totalitarianism and hence were essentially opposite to the concept of either democracy or republic.
6. In a democracy, power is held directly or indirectly by citizens under a free electoral system and ideally supposed to be based on two principles: (a) all members of the society (citizens) should have equal access to power and (b) all members (citizens) enjoy universally recognized freedoms and liberties. No real world democracy seemed to have fully adopted these principles in practice. Democracies do not as yet know how to reconcile through democratic process "majority rule" and mionority rights, neither has it been possible to establish procedures that are fair and ensure substantive competitive elections. Marxist revolutionary, Che Gievara, once said "Democracy cannot consist solely of elections that are nearly always fictitious and managed by rich landowners and professional politicians." Real world democracies have so far failed to devised mechanisms that would make democracy an efficient social / political system. Efficiency of democracy depends on the assumptions of rational voters, competitive elections, and relatively low political transactions costs: these assumptions are far not valid in reality.
Voters are highly uninformed about many political issues, especially relating to economics. Even if they have information they are and politically conscious, they are generally poor interpreters of information. Different sections of the societies are often strongly biassed by their sectional interests rather than the national interests. While on the one hand, democracy has remained grossly inefficient as a political system, the communists, religious leaders and conservatives tied to cultural traditions dislike attempts to make democracies more efficient because democratic freedom leads to questioning of the authority of rulers and leaders, of the cultural and social codes in favor of respect to the clergy and the seniors and even of the powers of God.
7. If the real world democracies and republics are in so weak state and so poor in quality despite the politicians claim that democracies and republics are the best form of poltical organization, it is hardly surprising that these political regimes have become active breeding grounds of and covers for implicit monarchs and monarchies. Essentially, the concept of democracy is merely an extension of the concept of democracy. It accepts the fundamental superiority of and absolute power of the Ruler in relation to all other citizens of a State. The concept of democracy does not question the distinction of the Ruler and the Ruled. It only establishes procedures and a rational for such procedures for choosing the ruler: the Ruler in a demcracy is chosen by some form of selection process in which citizens participate and this participation of the citizens in the choice of the Ruler by majority votes is believed to be a good thing in that each citizen can perceive to have enjoyed equal power in choosing the Ruler by casting his/ her vote. Just as in the case of Monarchies, there is not just a single person Ruler in practice. Beyond the size of a family, the ruler of a group has often to be a team headed by a leader: there would be various government departments and minister and bureaucracies through which administration of the Ruler functions. Democracies and republics may also allow citizens participation in the choice of the entire Ruler network from the national level to provincial level to local area level. The ruler network is hierarchial not only in terms of geographical areas but also in terms of functional areas like legislation, administration of policies, internal security, external security, economy management, international relations, etc.
8. The essential emphasis is only on the choice of the Rulers at various levels through some process of election/ selection by the citizens. Clearly, a large number of Rulers of varying powers are chosen and once chosen each elected ruler is free to enjoy the power to rule over others in the respective jurisdiction. Democracies and Republics are nothing but legimising the rulers by making the citizens feel that they enjoy the ultimate power to elect the rulers who will actually enjoy the real powers to rule. Democracies and republics are therefore are formal systems of creation of monarchs. These have really nothing to with justice, equality, peace, progress or efficiency and does not contribute in any way to fulfilling national aspirations or eradication of poverty or protection of human rights or eradication of corruption. The probability of having a good king delivering good governance for 40 years in a period of say 200 years of monarchy is higher than the probability of good governance for 40 years in 200 years of democratic or republic rule.
The above may appear strong negative assertions about democracy and republic rule. But if one closely studies the inherent structure of democracies and republics and evaluate the empirical evidence, it would become clear that democracies and republics are nothing but weaker versions of essentially monarchial form of government. We will explore these assertions in this series.
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