Rebuttal to an Altruistic Poem

I received a poem of sorts on WhatsApp today and composed an Objectivist AnCap sort of rebuttal to it.

First the poem and introductory message ...

What a  hard hitting poem. ...

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Sometimes in the dark of the night 

I visit my conscience  

To see if  it is still breathing 

For its dying a slow death

Every day.

When I pay for a meal in a fancy place 

An amount which is perhaps the monthly income 

Of the guard who holds the door open

And quickly I shrug away that thought

It dies a little 

When I buy vegetables from the vendor 

And his son "chhotu" smilingly weighs the potatoes 

Chhotu, a small child, who should be studying at school 

 I look the other way

It dies a little.

When I am decked up in a designer dress

A dress that cost a bomb 

And I see a woman at the crossing

In tatters,trying unsuccessfully to save her dignity 

And I immediately  roll up my window

It dies a little 

When I buy expensive gifts for my children 

On return,  I see half clad children 

With empty stomach and hungry eyes 

Selling toys at red light 

I try to salve my conscience by buying some, yet

It dies a little 

When my sick  maid sends her daughter to work 

Making her bunk school 

I know I should tell her to go back 

But I look at the loaded sink and dirty dishes 

And I tell myself that is just for a couple of days 

It dies a little 

When I hear about a rape

or a murder of a child,

I feel sad, yet a little thankful that it's not my child

I can not  look at myself  in the mirror

It dies a little 

When people fight over caste creed and religion

I feel hurt and helpless

I tell  myself that my country is going to the dogs

I blame the corrupt politicians 

Absolving myself of all responsibilities 

It dies a little 

When my city is choked

Breathing is dangerous  in the smog ridden metropolis

I take my car to work daily 

Not taking  the metro,not trying car pool 

One car won't make a difference, I think 

It dies a little 

So when in the dark of the night

I visit my conscience 

And find it still breathing 

I am surprised 

For, with my own hands 

Daily, bit by bit, I kill it, I bury it.

And now my rebuttal to it ...

Socialist Poem (Most likely New York Democrat) ...

When I pay for a meal in a fancy place I employ more people than I would if I ate a simple one

The high price of the meal is what makes the guard's salary affordable.

When I buy vegetables from the vendor 

And his son "chhotu" smilingly weighs the potatoes 

Chhotu, a small child, who learns more about real life (especially Arithmetic and Economics) than the future social justice snowflakes studying at their Ivy League schools

When I buy expensive gifts for my children I employ people who work in the toy industry

I see half clad children who could have worked had it not been for the socialist anti-child labour laws

With empty stomach and hungry eyes because the government regulates everything and doesn't allow people to economically transact freely in the market

Selling toys at red light because their employer would be arrested if she hired them at her shop where they could work safely.

When my sick  maid sends her daughter to work , Making her bunk school , she made her own choice of hiring cheaper labour instead of paying a substitute to cover for her for that day. I know if I tell her to go back I will have to hire someone else to do the dishes or do it myself taking time away from a higher paying task that I am doing or that I or someone who likes me has earned money for in the past to spend on my relaxation now.  If I pay my maid despite that , it means I am working to pay my maid for relaxing, which makes me her slave. And I am not anyone's slave - least of all that of a socialist who wants to manipulate my conscience. Let the maid's daughter also earn her way through life. There is nothing lost in dignity by working for money you earn honestly even if it is cleaning a loaded sink of dirty dishes.

When I hear about a rape or a murder of a child, I feel sad, yet a little thankful that it's not my child but I can look myself in the mirror because I do not condone such behaviour and believe that everyone has the right to bear arms and use them in self defense.

When people fight over caste creed and religion, they are usually doing it to get what they want through force - either directly by themselves or indirectly through the violent entity known as the government instead of peacefully negotiating and respecting each other's privte property rights. I feel hurt and helpless when people vote away their power to socialists because democracy is just socialism in slow motion and socialism in turn is just mob rule in slow motion. 

I tell  myself that my country is going to the dogs

I blame the corrupt politicians because I forget the words of Frederic Bastiat — 'The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.'

When my city is choked because of zoning laws put in place by government bureaucrats who want to wield power just for its own sake or because they think they are know-it-all gods or for the bribes or for all of it, Breathing becomes dangerous  in the smog ridden metropolis

I take my car to work daily for this reason.

Not taking  the metro,not trying car pool because I like my privacy and I can afford it because I have earned it with my work in the past.

So when in the dark of the night

I visit my conscience 

And find it still breathing happy and alive 

I am surprised that others don't understand how they are being taken for a ride by those who worship the false God of government

Price Gouging by Private Companies during a Crisis - Case 2 : Restaurant

This picture was posted on FB in protest against the Saravana group of restaurants for their (perceived) huge price markup. The floods in Chennai / Madras and the resulting shortages are one reason for this, The other of course is price gouging. The truth it turns out is that these are their normal 'AC' prices. Also those who were shocked at the 'amount' on the right side of the bill forgot to divide it by the 'rate'. When you do that it appears reasonable. But all that was lost in the hype and outrage generated. As you may imagine, a lot of people were pissed off with this even though the actual impact on their own lives is very little.

Why ?

Because they feel that Saravana has a duty to them. They feel that it should sell them affordable cheap food at all times at any cost.

Why?

Because they feel so. After all, they are special precious snowflakes or cupcakes to whom the world owes a debt for merely existing.

What Saravana may have failed to realise is that if they do not counter this viral post, it will cause bad publicity and will do Saravana more harm in the long term than the Jeevajothi incident where P. Rajagopal, who owns Saravana escaped punishment for the murder of Santhakumar. The hypocrisy of the masses is appalling. It is a generalisation, but most city dwellers are IMO a despot worshiping  population (ancient Rome anyone?), apathetic about someone else's life . So many of them are bothered about the alleged opportunistic pricing of some food items like a dosa or a meal or a coffee, but not the murder of an innocent man.

Had this been a case of price gouging, the shaming done by the free market, is a better deterrent than price controls implemented and exercised by government legal machinery which can be captured by bribing those in power. The murder of a man is not justified but he gets away with it. The supposed price hike is but he gets shamed for it.

Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite.

Every nation gets the government it deserves

Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre (1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821)

Among a morally inept and denial embracing populace, it shows that justice can't be better served merely through unrestricted commerce if individual and property rights are not protected. Without those protections, we do not have laisse faire capitalism. What we have is a proto or quasi fascism instead.

Price Gouging by Private Companies during a Crisis - Case 1 : Airlines

Bastiat von Mises : Capitalism manages resources better through prices which are a signal for scarcity and abundance. The laws of supply and demand are at work at all times

Critic 1: In the above context, it is not an accurate reflection of market forces but of price gouging.

Bastiat von Mises : Jet airways and other private carriers have made air travel cheap for many ordinary Indians. They need to stay profitable or they will go out of business. Price 'gouging' is perfectly acceptable as long as they are not using fraud or force to prevent others from providing the same goods and services. Jet airways (and other private companies and individuals) also have to pay the taxes needed to keep Air India running despite its colossal losses.

Critic 1: It is not that the private airlines are doing charity to help ordinary folks experience flying but are forced by the same market forces that you vouched for earlier. In addition to shareholders, businesses have moral and ethical obligations to customers they serve. Exploiting helplessness caused by extraneous events is fraud in those dimensions. This is not an opportunity to compensate private airlines for taxes they pay assuming they make profit or subsidizing Air India.

Critic 2 : Bastiat von Mises, this is first time I've heard anyone say price gouging in acceptable. Kool-aid anyone ? 😂😂

Critic 2 : Bastiat von Mises, proponents of unregulated free-markets forget some basic problems with the application of the theory in the real world -- markets do not have perfect information, markets can and are manipulated, and real humans use markets -- not perfectly rational and self-interested beings. That is why all sensible financial markets are regulated to some degree. Case in point --

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/5/free-market-dogma-has-jacked-up-our-electricity-bills.html

Bastiat von Mises : Critic 1, Yes it is not charity that forces private airlines to cut prices. It is market forces , i.e competition. The same argument applies when they jack up prices. You win some, you lose some.

Air India is able to provide fares below market prices during crisis times not because they are charitable either but because they are slow to respond to the market situation. They are also cheap during these times but costly for the rest of the year as compared to private carriers. Even if they are cheap it is not because they are efficient in the operations but because they are subsidised by tax money. The only moral and ethical obligation a business has to it's customers is to not commit fraud or default on a service. Those who criticise private carriers should refuse to take their services even when it is cheaper - if you are paying from your own pocket as opposed to your employer's pocket. No point in making others pay for one's own ideals. The opportunity is not to compensate them but for the private operators to make hay when the sun shines. I see nothing wrong with it . They are not charitable organisations.

Bastiat von Mises : Critic 2, the unregulated free market drives efficiency and minimises waste. Adam Smith calls it the invisible hand of the market.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand

Free markets are not a theory to be applied on an engineering problem. They are a law of nature like physics - immutable. We ignore them at our peril.

Markets do not have perfect information, true. The premise here is that IF they did, they would automatically take the best possible decisions. Nope. Each participant will make the best decisions for themselves based on game theory. Everyone is afraid of the future and wants to somehow trust something. We are all desperate for someone to rip us off by giving us assurances. Sometimes it is a parent, sometimes a religious person, sometimes a god, politician, movie maker, etc. What markets have is free agents who interact with each other freely. Suggesting that an all knowing central authority whether a religious one or a political one or an economic one or of any other nature knows and will make rules for all is totalitarian. Humans have an inability to face the future that only an intelligent and sentient species that depended in it's evolutionary past on a reliable climate for a stable supply of nutrition has. BTW that explains any calendar of any civilization.

Critic 1 : Bastiat von Mises, If you go back to the snapshot I put you will realize that Air India is also engaged in price gouging. Moreover I don't believe government should be in airline business. Since I had been an extensive domestic air traveler during 92 ~ 97 I have seen the dark side and enjoyed the choices and freedom offered by liberalization of airline industry.

However there is nothing called an unregulated competitive economy optimal for everyone. In the context of airlines engaging in price gouging:
"Current economic theory does recognize that if there is an "externality" the outcome won't be optimal, and most economists would agree that in such cases we need government intervention". This is a link to a recent article titled 'Faith in an Unregulated Free Market? Don't fall for it' - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/upshot/faith-in-an-unregulated-free-market-dont-fall-for-it.html?_r=0

Bastiat von Mises : The only function of a government is to protect individual and property rights. Externalities like the environment are commonly held property and so a company violating it beyond the accepted levels of that jurisdiction are guilty of trespassing. As regards those who sold fake drugs or drugs with only placebo effects are guilty of fraud or misrepresentation. Regarding protecting people from their own stupidity, I believe the government has no role to play. Protecting them from fraud - yes.

Critic 2: Bastiat von Mises, you're missing the point. Markets are not free in the real world. Powerful players will and do interfere in the market all the time. Take for instance high speed trading, highly leveraged equities and do on. Trusted sources lie. People are irrational. That's why the free market ideal is a disaster.

Critic 2: Same thing with communism.

Critic 2: Unregulated, pure ideology driven economics leads to false expectations and bad results.

Critic 2: Your idea of a government as a police force and nothing else is quite Orwellian. It does not exist today for a very good reason. Society suffers badly under such systems.

Bastiat von Mises : Critic 2 , As regards the electricity article, some of the higher costs may be due to various reasons. There is no such thing as a market failure. Only to a failure to meet the desired conditions of the critic.

Bastiat von Mises : I cannot comment on this as I do not have the data available with me and I only have first principles to start with .. however I would like to speculate a few possible reasons.

1. The states' govt run companies found it hard to produce electricity in a manner that is cost effective and so passed the buck (or should I say the lack of ability to make one) on to the private sector to avoid losing favour with the electorate.

2.  The companies running the electricity generating facilities were a cartel and rigged prices. But this is possible only in a economy where you have to ask permission to a govt to produce anything' . i.e where there is a license and permit raj.

3. I strongly suspect that states where the costs to end customer are lower are those with a budget deficit

Critic 2: I give up.

Bastiat von Mises : Markets I agree are not free in the real world today. That is why I ask for them to be freed. Powerful players can interfere in the market in a way that is detrimental to customers ONLY with the force of government backing. No one can force us to part with our money or health with our full knowledge unless they use force.

Bastiat von Mises : Trusted sources do lie - like governments that bail out banks and car manufacturers who are 'too big to fail'. Many Individual people may be irrational. But they pay the cost for their follies themselves and serve as a signaling mechanism to peers and others in their vicinity. This is society becoming more rational over generations and how a system becomes anti-fragile over time - through evolution and not through intelligent design.

Bastiat von Mises : Government driven policies by an elite chosen few are in a true sense leverage on a national level as opposed to at a smaller corporate or individual level. That is the real Orwellian mechanism at work and not the free market - which is not ideology driven as asserted earlier. Government as a police force is a necessary evil and needed only to protect private property and individual rights. Not for anything else.

Aam Aadmi Party

NaMo might not inherit our Weimar Republic with it's RBI sanctioned fiscal deficits and currency printing presses. The silent one's successor is likely to be someone who eerily reminds me of another idealist who wrote about his struggles in a book titled "Mein Kampf".

Many people in India are rejoicing at the rise of the AAP as they are fed up with decades of incompetent and corrupt rule (mostly - but not exclusively - by the Congress Party). Apparently an IITian ex-IRS officer and his elves will save the day.

Aam Aadmi means Ordinary Man in Hindi. Aam also means Mango in Hindi, leading to the bilingually comprehensible moniker "Mango Man" for the average person. The AAPists claim to fight for the common man just like Socialists. They feel that the system is not to blame but the persons who have occupied the thrones of power so far were to blame for it's failures. They are so fervently patriotic that the term "Nationalist" would fit them well. . Is it wrong to call them "National Socialists" ?

Little does anyone 'want' to realize that they are to blame for their faith in an unnatural and inefficient system. The people of India keep trying to fit the data to the curve. It's time to Stop Blaming Capitalism for Socialism's Failures . Embracing Politics to solve society's problems is like changing the brand of the syringe to alter the properties of the medicine.

Imprinting is a political phenomenon as well. Stop seeing the sarkar as your mai-baap. Very few people in India are willing to take the Red Pill and grow up to political adulthood. No system is perfect. Which is why Laissez Faire Capitalism is what you should adopt as your Economics.

But maybe this is too much to ask for in a world where everyone wants Astrology to be an accurate science and the Astrologer to make a living by revealing to them the future - without telling others.

Why voting for Gary Johnson in 2012 makes sense !

www.garyjohnson2012.com

I'm sure a lot of you have been told that your votes will be wasted if they are not cast for either one of the dynamic duo lovingly called together as "Obamney" !

Ron Paul's supporters are under pressure from the gangsters in the Republican party to unconditionally support an unpalatable Mittney in order to avoid "fracturing the vote". Appeals to act in Unity for the "greater good" and snide remarks to "not throw a tantrum" are made in a patronising tone of voice. This after shamelessly treating them so poorly and stealing the nomination from them. The GOP Polit Bureau Bosses think they have a right to expect, nay demand, loyalty from a section within the GOP against a common adversary. They simultaneously need someone to blame if they lose the Election to one of the most incompetent and underperforming incumbent Presidents in the history of the United States. Of course it won't be their fault for not playing fair at the Republican Primaries and not offering anything different from Obama for the voter to choose from !

Check out this cool 'Interactive' Infographic. It sadly shows only the 2 candidates foisted on us by the mainstream media ! Play with it and check out how the 2 candidates fare against each other in your state.

Another place to look is here.

If you support Romney or Obama in a Swing State / Battleground State where it is too close to call, please vote for the person you support. If that is not the case, then please give Freedom a presence - if not a chance - by Voting for Gary Johnson in 2012. Let's check your psephological options ...

1) If you are an Obama supporter in a strongly Obama leaning State (like Hollywood influenced liberal California for example), then you have nothing to fear by giving your vote to Gary Johnson in 2012 since Obama will not lose that State to Mittney.

2) If you are an Obama supporter in a strongly Mittney leaning State, then your vote is wasted anyway, so give a vote for Gary Johnson in 2012 to make a point. Check out Obama's performance just in case you have your doubts.

3) If you are a Mittney supporter in a strongly Mittney leaning State, then you have nothing to fear by giving a vote for Gary Johnson in 2012.



4) If you are a Mittney supporter in a strongly Obama leaning State, then your vote is wasted anyway, so give a vote for Gary Johnson in 2012 to make a point. Watch this video just in case you are not too sure about that.

5) If you are a passive Ron Paul supporter, vote for the next best thing i.e Gary Johnson - instead of voting for the lesser of the 2 evils this year.

6) If you are a fanatical Ron Paul supporter AND you live in a state where you can't write-in his name, then please vote for someone very similar whom you can give a realistic chance of winning. Vote Gary Johnson in 2012. Please remember that even Ron Paul has suggested he might vote for Gary.

7) If you are from New Mexico, you just have to vote for Gary Johnson in 2012 :-). You know his record better than anyone else.

8) If you are senior or retired person who is worried about your medical expenses under either Obama or Romney then you should see this !

In Summary here is your Choice Matrix ...

CHOICE MATRIX	Your State is Very Likely to Vote : Obama / Democrat	Your State is Very Likely to Vote : Mittney / Republican	Swing State OR 'Too Close to Call'
Democrat but not happy with  Obama	Vote for Gary as Obama the Democrat will win your state anyway. Register a Protest Vote.	Vote for Gary even if you love Obama the Democrat as your candidate will lose your state anyway. Make your vote useful. Don't waste it in a losing cause.	Sure ! Go Ahead, Vote for your man Obama
Republican but not a supporter of Mittney	Vote for Gary even if you love Mittney the Republican as your candidate will lose your state anyway. Make your vote useful. Don't waste it in a losing cause.	Vote for Gary as Mittney the Republican will win your state anyway. Register a Protest Vote. Click Here if you are a Conservative.	Sure ! Go Ahead, Vote for your man Mittney
Ron Paul Supporter	Don't waste your vote as a "Write-In" voter. Even Ron Paul has suggested he might vote for Gary. Help the Libertarian Party get that 5% even IF you think they won't win. Gary has said that he would not have run against Ron Paul had he won the Republican nomination. Reward him for that. You agree with him 95% of the way anyway !		The GOP's RNC stole the nomination from Ron Paul. Make them pay dearly for this ! If you think Obama is the Devil, don't forget that Mittney is no better.
Undecided Voter !	If you are undecided it means you are unhappy with both candidates but you are unsure about swimming against the tide. Try Gary! Seriously. Even if you don't know anything about the 3 candidates, don't you think it is better for America to have one more influential choice?
New Mexico Voter !	Do I have to even preach to the Choir ? You know what this guy can do. Help him do to the Country as President what he did for your State as Governor. This is one State that MUST go to Gary !

If you are still unwilling to let your candidate lose but want to support Gary, then look at the 'Interactive' Infographic again. This should help you decide if you can ditch one of the 2 mainstream media candidates you still support without helping his opponent !

Use it to decide if you can afford to vote for Gary Johnson instead of your "preferred lesser evil"
if
1) You strongly support either Obama or Mittney over the other
AND
2) You are from a state whose choice of presidential candidate is a "supposedly" long foregone conclusion. NOT "too close to call"

There are ofcourse other reasons to Vote for Gary Johnson in 2012 - EVEN - if you think he won't win ! Given below are the long term non-psephological  reasons !

1. Your vote can help to end the 2 Party Monopoly - albeit slowly.
2. Your vote forces policy makers and the media to pay attention to the spirit of Freedom - both Economic and Social Freedom.
3. Your vote will help act as a measure of the growing influence and increasing strength of the (predominantly Ron Paul led) FREEDOM rEVOLution.
4. Your vote will give the Libertarian Candidates equal ballot access and federal funding (ok this one sucks - no one should get any funding) !

Why Romney & Obama Won't Debate Gary Johnson

Why Democracy is Wrong and How to Mitigate it's Flaws !

The Observed and Inferred Problems

Ever been in a school or playgroup where the other kids bully you but when someone gives you a bag of candy you are expected to "share" with everyone - even those who you dislike? I've had this bad experience many times growing up in Catholic Boarding Schools and in Politically Liberal Elite societies. That's what universal suffrage can do sometimes. Authorities try to enforce an artificial equality so that they can manage the masses with ease. It would be hard work if they had to apply a different pattern to judge each person in different circumstances. Equality is NOT Individuality. Equality is therefore NOT equal to Freedom. This is visible in the parades of Socialist or Fascist political movements.

"Democracy has nothing to do with freedom. Democracy is a soft variant of communism, and rarely in the history of ideas has it been taken for anything else." - Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Reflections on State and War (2006).

"This line of reasoning brings us to a challenging question: If people are as incapable, as immoral, and as ignorant as the politicians indicate, then why is the right of these same people to vote defended with such passionate insistence?" - Frédéric Bastiat

Democracy is sometimes similar to 99 wolves and 1 sheep voting on what's for dinner. There is an implied faith in the wisdom of crowds but one that is based on a snapshot of what the crowd had thought at a moment in time. It need not reflect the new reality nor need it reflect the present mental majority. It's not as if the earlier snapshot is justified. But it does at least have the sanction of the majority - not that the majority is right just because it is the majority. Also, I ask you, if you were right about recruiting the best person for a particular Wall Street job, would that make you infallible as a recruiter ? Does it empower you as a Sports Selector? I think not. Also don't we also often change our minds to adjust our existence to our ever changing realities? Yes we do. Then why would you stake a certain portion of your future to the immutable opinion of others whether it be by referendum OR by the votes of representatives who are not immune to unfairness, stupidity or just simply plain greed (- which is exploited by either overt lobbyists or covert bribers).

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections." - Lord Acton, The History of Freedom and Other Essays, Section III: Sir Erskine May's Democracy in Europe p. 76

"Democracy has turned out to be not majority rule but rule by well-organized and well-connected minority groups who steal from the majority." - Llewellyn Rockwell, Jr., in "Why Hate Monarchs?" in The Free Market Vol. 19, No. 8 (August 2001)

There is also sometimes a skewing towards one point of view of the final results of a poll because of voting by people who were not eligible to vote (with the eligibility depending on various criteria and points of views)   OR people who are able to vote disproportional to their size (and/or eligibility)  OR because a certain section of the population has been disenfranchised. Sometimes people think that they have rights just because they happen to be there. Sometimes they think they have a right to an opinion just because they are watching. Sometimes illegal immigrants think that they have a right to be given asylum just because they became parents of a child who was born within a certain geography. That's a bit like taking the generosity of someone's hospitality while your wife is pregnant and after the birth then claiming that this now entitles you to a room in his house for perpetuity. WTF ?

As Ayn Rand says in her novelette Anthem, "My brothers must do more than be born".

"Envy is the basis of democracy." - Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness, VI, 1930.

Let us now consider the case of the median citizen in every democracy. Very often under the burdens of earning a daily living he has no time to spend researching and studying all the political issues of his time and very often delegates that responsibility to someone who does and/or specialises in it. Note that it is in the interest of the latter to keep the former busy about his work and confused about the latter's work - or the latter would be out of work. Also the issue of everyone travelling to the same location and making a vote like in Ancient Athens is out of the question. We all can't possibly live in the same location just to make decisions of common interest. Even if it has to be done, it's not a rare/important event like the election of the Pope and only in a case of such import would it warrant all stakeholders to travel kilometres and kilometres to get to a common place (aka Parliament) to vote. As human populations increased and nation states increased in size, this mass gathering has proved unfeasible. So we send representatives instead. Sometimes even that becomes a hassle and so we sometimes choose to not vote. Over time our inability to always go to the polls have made them come to us in the form of voting booths and and ballots. Sometimes each province has a say (like in the American Presidential elections) and sometimes it's an Absolute Majority which decides the outcome (like in most Presidential elections). Sometimes we elect legislators like in Parliamentary Democracies (usually based on the British Model) who then are supposed to act as our "representatives". Even though both systems are not fair more than half the time, we accept them with some resignation and take comfort in the law of averages and in the realisation that out fellow man is as crippled as we are. We see this as some kind of fairness.

"When people put their ballots in the boxes, they are, by that act, inoculated against the feeling that the government is not theirs. They then accept, in some measure, that its errors are their errors, its aberrations their aberrations, that any revolt will be against them. It's a remarkably shrewd and rather conservative arrangement when one thinks of it." - John Kenneth Galbraith, The Age of Uncertainty (1977), Chapter 12, p. 330.

Having a Technocracy is fine and dandy on paper but not advisable or implementable. I have seen enough AI movies (Terminator Series, iRobot, Matrix Series, Minority Report) to decide against it. Besides these systems can be hacked and the population can be controlled without their knowledge. And even if they are hacker-proof, it still goes against my notions of free will and my desire for humans to indulge in near zero manipulation of each other's minds. No system is fair, but the Swiss system does seem better than the rest.

The Suggested Solution

Why not have an "Online Democracy" ? While Direct Democracy will solve some of the above problems - at least partially. It can at the least act as an intermediary power structure between now and the eventual online democracy. Here given below are the basic premises of the system I propose. I hope these will in some ways minimize the disadvantages of minarchy as well. I had this idea even before Facebook arrived on the world scene. However it was the success of Facebook that made me think that the time for this idea has finally arrived and that this is now viable in the not too distant future.

1. All votes may be legally bought by lobbyists or sold by voters on the open market.
1. All sold votes and amounts transacted must be openly disclosed to the public - "Who sold how many votes to whom on what date on what bill supporting which party or position".
2. All buyers must be Passport holders AND Tax Card holders.
3. All non-sold votes will remain confidential and private.
4. The amount of money involved must be held in an escrow account and transferred to the seller/voter only after voting has been done on the concerned bill for which it was bought.
5. If the sold vote was not executed the seller does not receive any money.
6. Till the last second, the seller can exercise his vote thus changing the preference of the buyer to his own and thus nullify the "sold" status of his votes and invalidate any payment due to him by the buyer and held in the escrow account.
7. All Military, Police, other Law and Order Personnel and Judiciary will NOT pay any Income Tax. This is because their monopolistic services will be needed by society TILL we attain a purely Anarcho-Capitalist society. Then how will they vote on Political and/or Security Affairs? Must their opinions also not be considered ? This can be done by equating their individual  (basic?) salaries to the Tax based votes they are allocated, thus giving important officials more votes individually but lesser government employees more influence collectively.
8. Due to non-salary expenditure (after assuming balanced budgets), the combined vote of Government Employees will be less than that of Tax Payers.
9. Non-exercised votes for the passage of a particular bill will lapse.
2. There are 2 kinds of votes.
1. Those based on purely political issues.
2. Those based on economical affairs.
3. How does a political entity decide whether an issue is purely political or economical/expenditure based ? Though not perfect, one solution is to qualify it by putting it to a meta-vote. Which category a Bill belongs to will be decided by a combined and equal vote of the Tax Payers and General Voters (which includes Govt Employees, Tax Payers and those who have not paid any Taxes).
1. Tax Payers votes will total 50% spread out in proportion of the taxes they have paid in the last fiscal year or the total tax they have paid during their lifetime. They may also inherit the votes bequeathed to them by inheritance - just like property.
2. General Voters votes will total 50% spread out equally to all voters.
3. Each Entity can choose only kind of category (purely political or economical/expenditure based) to which all its votes will go. A Tax Payer will therefore have more votes as he will be able to cast his votes BOTH as a Tax Paying Voter AND as a General Voter towards the category he thinks a bill belongs to. But he cannot split his choices here and allocate them based on his feelings for this vote.
4. A Tax Paying Entity will have the right to vote. It can be an individual or a company or any other profit seeking and tax paying organisation.
1. On each economics affairs issue, Tax Paying Entities will have votes in proportion to the taxes they have paid in the last financial year or the total tax they have paid during their lifetime. These votes are to be used on economical affairs only.
1. Thus those who pay more taxes will have a greater say in the running of the economy.
2. People can be given the option of selecting multiple candidates or supporting different options by "allocating" their preferences which then translate into votes.
3. Sometimes fuzzy logic and weighted averages can be used to arrive at a fairer results.
2. Each Individual will have 1 vote each on  purely political and  non-monetary issues.
3. On political issues non-Individuals will have as many votes as they have tax-card holding employees (even if the amount paid by the employees is zero). These entities get this delegated vote only if they are the highest source of compensation for that particular employee in the previous year.
1. Publicly listed companies will vote in proportion to shareholder votes on the issue.
2. Proprietorship firms will vote as per the whims of the owner/s. 
5. Proposing Legislation for the consideration of others.
1. Every Citizen can propose one piece of legislation per year for the consideration of the others.
2. Tax Paying Organisations can propose as many as Legislative bills as mentioned in 4.3
3. Whether the proposed Bill should be debated and for how long will be decided by the same method used in article 3.0.0.
4. People can vote a piece of legislation up or down as important or not. The most important ones will bubble up to the top and be put to the vote. This algorithm is 'natural selection by popularity contest'. Votes are counted using the same algorithms mentioned above.
6. Politicians are nearly obsolete and exist only as Opinion Makers unlike their earlier role of Rabble Rousers and Parliamentarians. They exist merely as figureheads (President/PM/Defense Minister) and as supervisors of the Bureaucracy and to deal with crisis situations like a War.
7. The Govt Bureaucracy which is needed for the few remaining Government functions is also similarly supervised by the population using Online Rating Systems.
8. Salaries of both Politicians and Government Employees are determined based on these Online Rating Systems.
9. All voting which is online will remain open for a period of 1week during which anyone can log in and see how the tide is turning. People can also change their vote twice before the end of voting.

Picture added later from Facebook on 26 Dec 2013

Welcome To Our Website ... www.ukfcet.ac.in

Today a friend (RJK) emailed the link to the home page of a website of an Engineering college in Keralam.

His desperate question to me was
" Of all the names, UKFC of Engineering & Technology
I dont get it. Is it that difficult to get a decent name? ".

Though I was appalled at the standard of writing on the Home Page, I was not surprised at what the State of Education in THE State of Education has been reduced to. There are many things worth considering here. We first take a historical look at the stakeholders of Kerala society.

In keeping with their altruistic and suicidal mindsets, for years, both 'the Catholic Church'  and - its bastard offspring - 'the Left', abhorred "Professional" Colleges. A profession in this article will mean an activity you could work at and "earn money". Oh the horrors - " 'selling something as nobil aas edukayshun for mani ! How could you ?', 'Teaching people a profitable trade/skill/knowledge ! Why don't you tell them to serve their fellow men and work for humanity?' ", etc. They were generally supported by the other (mostly collectivist) participants in Kerala society in where Merchants are considered 'cheap' or 'mean' people and only Land Owners or Factor Owners or Government Employees or Political Leaders or Religious Leaders are to be respected.

In this moronic but highly "educated" society in Keralam these days, Medicine and Engineering are considered the only 2 professions considered "respectable" . The Left opposed approving and starting private Medical and Engineering colleges for many years. So what did Keralites do? They went to the gelf (willing to do anything or to Africa usually as teachers), made a lot of money and sent their kids to the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to learn anything that was useful in the job market - MBBS, BDS, B.E, Nursing, MBA, etc. The Church was particularly disinclined to start Engineering Colleges as it "was not as noble as being a Nurse or Doctor" and "did not serve humanity".

The dynamic duo then had a change of heart. They suddenly decided that it was all good. Fiat Lux. And then there was light. Then the big bang happened, the sudden explosion of Engineering and Medical colleges out of a desert of cogunut tree greenery. The left and it's puppet student wing the SFI quietly grumbled and made a fuss but not strongly enough to oppose the entry of private players. Even so, they did try to usurp control of the private colleges once the money had been spent by the managements. This has been a regular pattern on Keralam over the past 6 decades. Oppose the rich guy. Make him wait a long time before he can invest any money. Then let him do it - act uninterested. Once he has reached a point of no return, harass him and usurp as much control as you can of HIS PROPERTY so that you can then play Elsworth Toohey.

The Christian Churches (mostly Catholic ones) on their part now have around 7 Engg colleges of their own and even their own private Engg University. Maybe they finally realised that the Industrial and IT Revolutions have done more for Humanity than Mother Theresa and the Dark Ages. Maybe it just made good business sense.

This explosion in quantity has - as can be expected - brought with it a decrease in the overall quality of the colleges and the students. They now try all kinds of tricks to recruit students and this free-er market in education has made Engineering, Medical and Management Education accessible to many more natives than it was a decade ago. It has also brought down the cost of Engineering and Management, drastically - if one factors in inflation. The SFI's opposition to Private Colleges was that poor students would be denied an "equal" opportunity. Well maybe they preferred it the way it was back then - when we were an egalitarian society -  where everyone was unemployed and miserable - EQUALLY !

The standards have also gone down in the way the colleges present themselves. Besides the poor grammar and spelling, they have shown some students who definitely don't look Keralite or Malayali but Caucasian. Oh Well ! I guess with 2nd generation Malayalis coming back home from abroad for a cheaper education, we need to make them feel at home and maybe get them to drag a few of their friends along too ... show them some Multiculturalism and create a nascent market for Educational Tourism and whatever new market there is to milk revenues from.
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I have copied the page as it was today to preserve it from any edits in future. Also given 2 screen shots with system time as proof.
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Welcome To Our Website...

                    Universal Knowledge Foundation, a trust registered under the Indian Trust Act, established at an auspicious moment in the year 2008, with the primary objective of rendering selfless, dedicated and yeomen service to cause of higher education originally in the field of Engineering & Technology and subsequently in the fields of Management, Arts, Science, and Paramedical Sciences

With the world moving towards the knowledge based society, the importance of the "knowledge" has increased everywhere. The rich - poor divide, may as a consequence be turned to knowledge rich and knowledge poor society. In such a situation, the institute has a vital role to play in disseminating knowledge among the student community. The institute will try to its best to produce quality man power. The institute shall promote strong link between its essential cultural values reflected in study of engineering.

Our policy on quality

We are committed for moulding young engineers by providing consistent good education. We focus on the engineering education of a high quality by including positive attitude, technical competence, and by adopting and complying with Quality Management System. We also attempt to continuously improve the education system by adopting appropriate scientific approaches