An excellent thing about America is that no one dissects America better than Americans. There is a book by PJ O’Rourke, titled Parliament of Whores, in which “a lone humorist attempts to explain the entire U.S. government.” In one passage he concludes: “The Government is huge, stupid, greedy and makes nosy, officious and dangerous intrusions into the smallest corners of life – this much we can stand. But the real problem is that government is boring.”
So only people who can put up with the hideous boredom – professional politicians – get into the positions of power. Later the writer develops the idea further to conclude that the boredom is a kind of camouflage for the invariably immoral political enterprise of forging a majority vote in favour of dispossessing some unfortunate minority.
At one point in the book O’Rourke discusses what is perhaps the main work of Congressmen – to listen to their constituents. They listen to the citizens “carp and moan and fume and gripe and ask to be given things free. Because that is, in the end, what legislators do. They listen to us. Not an enviable task.” As an example, the author tells of one Congressman who got letter after letter from a constituent claiming that the CIA was using microwave radiation to read his mind. At last, in desperation, the Congressman wrote back suggesting that the man line his hat with tin foil. This seemed to do the trick and the constituent hasn’t been heard from since. Democracy triumphs yet again!
A great weakness of our present system of government in Guyana is that our legislators are remote from citizens. Voters do not identify with Members of Parliament because they have not voted for individuals but for a slate. In a very real and important sense, legislators do not ‘belong’ to the citizens. I don’t know if citizens write much to our Members of Parliament but I doubt it. The letters page of Stabroek News probably receives more citizens’ grievances than all the legislators combined. Something vital is missing when voters neither feel there are individual parliamentarians who can represent them in the corridors of power nor believe that there is any one person they can hold personally accountable in Parliament for any nonsense the state may be perpetrating.
In voting, I personally would like to be able to choose, not only between parties but between specific personalities. I would like to be able to judge and compare the intelligence, energy, initiative, record, knowledge of public affairs and probity (tall order) of specific contestants vying for my vote. And after one of them has won, whether I have voted for that person or not, I would like to feel I can apply to him or her as my Member of Parliament, someone I can write to, call upon, go to see, pester, reprimand, even praise, if and when I have reason to do so. After all, MPs are servants of the people and their main purpose in life should be to listen to, investigate for, make representations on behalf of, and in general serve constituents. Do we any longer in Guyana consider them in this light? Can any of us really relate to those faceless members in the House? I do not think so. That leaves a gaping hole in any system of representative government.
As I understand it, a newly elected government will be committed to reform the constitution. I make a plea that in the process of doing so attention is given to reconnecting voters with individual Members of Parliament. This, be it noted, does not mean scrapping PR as the method of counting voting strengths. There are well-tried electoral procedures – in Germany, for instance – which retain the advantages of PR while giving voters constituency members with whom they can relate individually. I urge that some such system be adopted in our new constitution. I want direct access to a flesh and blood legislator of active mind and dedicated spirit to whom I can communicate my public concerns and through whom I can seek specific redress. I should be able to go to my MP for my public worries as I go to my physician and priest for my personal problems. Please let our constitution amenders take this into consideration when they begin their work – shortly it is to be hoped.
