In Need of Dictatorship

OP-ED

Someone like Archimedes would put it this way: ‘Give me but a firm dictator on which to stand and I shall move Georgia’. I know they usually hate dictators, but the coin has a flip side, too: some like them, and they have their reasons for this clearly ostracized but still optional attitude. It’s not that they adore dictatorship in this country, but rather, they are losing faith in democracy and say they have no qualms about it, and here’s why: democracy often gives politicians a chance to develop a taste for undeserved and unearned material comfort, mostly at the expense of the State, leading them to forget about the people who elected them as their representatives to rule the nation; democracy is not supportive of the wisdom which says that deeds are better than words; democracy means much ado about nothing- spending our time, money and energy choosing leaders who cannot and do not justify the spent resources in their post-electoral efforts; democracy is people’s will and dream to put the right persons at the head of the nation, rare, as such a class of politicians is no longer extant; more often than not, democracy gives a chance to rule to those who have no clue why they were given a chance and what to do after they are given said chance; democracy is public power to elect a leader, but nobody asks question if people are knowledgeable enough to decide who the best ruler might be; democracy is a blunder in which more people have a finger in the pie than the pie can accommodate; democracy creates a fake impression that the patrons of the country are its people but, in reality, the patrons are those who behave themselves in the electoral process like cute harmless kittens with fluffy hair and tender clawless paws to later become ferociously voracious beasts with unbridled appetites to grab as much wealth and clout as they possibly can; democracy is an inevitable public frustration when you vote for one political figure, to receive a political animal of an utterly different color; democracy is the wrong environment for a human being who, by nature, is a rule-breaker rather than a being who wants to abide by the law unless it is forced into living by Manmade rules and laws.

Granted, it is universally admitted that democracy provides the opportunity to let our people tell us what to do and how to do it, but are we truly qualified and conscientious enough to make the optimal choice? Of course not! Then why should we be trusted to make a choice of that much importance? Slavery is history, fascism is gone, communism is dead, and now democracy is wobbling; turning into an active social and political delusion, and not only in a developing country like ours. Democracy has a strong tendency to beget a huge conglomerate of lies which is practically impossible to put straight for further necessary corrections. Meanwhile, a nice and fair dictator with good heart and sharp mind, with innate wisdom and expertise, with proper education and a sensitive nose for the future would be the best thing that could happen to us. He will surround himself with the best of experts and councilors, with their valuable advice and well-calculated plans to establish genuine public order and the rule of law as a prerequisite for prolific economic moves, guaranteeing high quality of life. But a question that will undoubtedly arise here is how to pick that wonderful dictator? To answer it, dictatorship devotees will have to apply to that great Greek of the fourth century BC. Platonically speaking, those specially educated sages who are well qualified to rule the State and lead the people could be brought up and formed in the depth of any nation. Who knows, the famous 2,500-year-old thoughts about statehood and the ways to build a society could still work. In any case, haters of democracy and lovers of dictatorship would choose to experiment without delay.

Nugzar B. Ruhadze