When you ask the average Indian on the street to describe the ideal government, the word often used is Raama-raajya. This conception of government is rooted in the traditional idea of a benevolent King with divine sanction. The idea persists in the popular imagination, even though India is a democracy! The King has essentially unlimited power over his domain and everything in it. Of course, the King is expected to exercise his God-given mandate responsibly and to take care of his subjects.
The deep hold the ideal of Raama-raajya has on the public imagination creates the basic problem that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As any government gets more power, the level of corruption keeps increasing. Since the institution of government is trusted by the people (through the unconscious association with and longing for Raama-raajya), the individuals in power are seen as the cause of corruption. This, in turn, leads to calls for leaders who are not corrupt, as if the problem of corruption has to do with the particular persons in power. I would contend that the problem is a necessary consequence of the vast and unlimited powers the government has. Unfortunately, repeated failures ultimately lead to calls for a benevolent dictator, coming back full circle to Raama-raajya. Once the individual has abdicated power, it can never return to him.
The American Revolution sought to turn this model of a monarchy with divine sanction upside down, by proposing that power comes directly from God to the individual human being. The individuals would then form a government which would have limited powers. The ultimate power would always reside in the citizen. On July 4, 1776, the 13 colonies of the United States of America declared their independence from the British King. Here is a short excerpt from in the
Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”These words are telling in their simplicity and in the new model of political relationship they propose between the citizen and the government.
The intellectual roots of the American Revolution can be traced back to Magna Carta in the 13th century, whereby the King’s powers were limited with respect his knights. This principle then took hold politically, and was later extended to the masses. It took more than 500 years for the principles of the Magna Carta to be implemented as the American model of a limited government, leading to the most prosperous society in the history of humanity. I just hope it does not take us that long in India!
(Manoj Padki is a professional based in the US.)
(C) Liberty Institute, New Delhi, 1999
