Why This Much Talk about Government?

Op-Ed

There is big talk in town concerning the new government of Georgia. Our people adore talking profusely about government. The most preferred topic of discussion in this society is what the government is or isn’t doing. No other country in the world chats about governmental affairs both publicly and privately as much as Georgia. The Georgian provincially frolicking media has a nauseous proclivity of blowing the absolutely trivial political individuals into the dimensions of Hollywood godlike figures. Discussion of governmental ways and means is one of our strongest nation-wide hobbies. Look at our newspapers – front, middle and closing pages, just all of them, are packed with copious reading matter about the government as a whole and the persons who have by sheer accident found themselves cozily ensconced in the leading administrative and legislative sinecures.

I have a habit of delving through most famous international editions that are available to me, and my experience in reading the world press tells me that most of them dedicate only a paucity of space to governing bodies and the individuals within those bodies. Take America for instance: who would care this much about what the government is doing unless it does something flagrantly wrong. At the mention of the word ‘government,’ the face of the average American immediately registers either an awry smile or a sincere annoyance. Nobody takes the government seriously there unless it comes to taxes. Countries elect governments only because they have not yet invented anything better than this for keeping nations within an average social normalcy.

Georgians like having fun and are very good at entertaining themselves, and others too, but in the last 30 years, they have reckoned government the most favorite conversational topic in life. Even youth in Georgia gets carried away talking about government, clearly parroting their parents and grandparents, unable to see that the best years of their lives are simply vanishing in futile blabber about government. This much discourse about government means that we become distracted from more pressing matters needing dealing with. Our printed media readers, television viewers and radio listeners crave above all to hear the latest about the government…and then everything else. This is a national infatuation which we fail to recognize as a mortifying vice. Friends fight, families quarrel, and couples separate as a consequence of heated and irritated discussions about governmental style and content. Shall we call the situation a political obsession, or just a passion for politics? Or is it an overall dullness in our social and private lives offering nothing more interesting for our poor souls feed on? Whatever it is, we are clearly not rational enough to think that we have much, much more on our hands to do than endlessly talk about the details of governmental wrongs and rights.

I certainly recognize that in a democracy, people must keep an eye on administrative doings, but can’t we occasionally take the selfsame eyes off the government to attend to our own business so that we don’t waste our valuable time and miss all our opportunities to bring home our share of the bacon? The government will not nourish us and our families. The government will only feed itself until it is completely sated on our flesh and blood. In the best-case scenario, the government will fulfill its obligation, if at all, to bestow enough national security on us so that we do not lose that absolutely indispensable piece of bacon that needs to be earned with our own hands and talent. We have to cut this much gibberish about governments in general and get forthwith down to our feeder, and the feeder is what our own brain and muscle can provide for, not what a regular government is capable of doing for us. Why don’t we adapt the unforgettable historical piece of advice to our everyday lives: Ask not what your government can do for you, but ask what you can do for yourself?!

By Nugzar B. Ruhadze