Do We Really Need Great?

As Narendra Modi continues as PM, some have started questioning what, if anything, has he done so far. To me, this sounds weird. Did he not increase railway fares (thereby reducing the railway subsidy)? Is he not continuing the trend of letting the market decide fuel prices (thereby reducing the oil subsidy)? A reduced subsidy account means that the government has more money for other things like, I don’t know, infrastructure or hospitals. So to me, the real question is how Modi intends to spend the money gained via the reduced subsidies? And equally importantly, can he ensure those projects get executed at all (and dare I say, executing them on time and at cost)?

All this questioning reminds me of this article by Aaron David Miller that talked about how “great” American leaders no longer seem to emerge. After Washington, Lincoln and FDR…nobody. Notice the common theme, says Miller:
“We admire the bold, transformational leader who seeks fundamental change, and value less the cautious transactor who negotiates, triangulates, and settles for less dramatic results. And we tend to forget too that great leaders almost always emerge in times of national crisis, trauma, and exigency, a risk we run if we hunger for the return of such leaders.”
Be careful what you wish for; it just might come true! And you might not like it.

And isn’t the need for a great leader from our cavemen days, asks Miller:
“The need to search for the great leader to guide or even rescue us is an ancient -- even primordial -- impulse.”

Miller also points out the contradiction of our expectations of having a great (political) leader:
“The expanding role of a government we trust less, even when we demand more from it.”

I was amused by how we seem to have this in common with the Americans:
“The presidents we judge to be great are very much with us still -- everywhere, really. They are on our money and monuments, stars of our HBO specials and Hollywood movies, and subjects of best-selling presidential biographies. They are everywhere, that is, except in the White House.”

And so, ends Miller:
“To sum up: We can no longer have a truly great president, we seldom need one, and, as irrational as it sounds, we may not want one, either.”
Not want one? To understand that part, we’d have to read Miller’s book, “The End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President”! Nice sales pitch, eh?

Comments

  1. KumarNovember 10, 2014 at 8:11 AM

    Your last part, which I quote in order to make sure which part I mean precisely
    ""And so, ends Miller: “To sum up: We can no longer have a truly great president, we seldom need one, and, as irrational as it sounds, we may not want one, either.” Not want one? To understand that part, we’d have to read Miller’s book, “The End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President”! Nice sales pitch, eh?""
    to me makes sense actually. I may never come around to reading the book, sales pitch or no sales pitch!

    To a good extent, some countries like India have actual governance going along principally two bases: (1) lessez faire (let things take care of by itself or work out ad hoc and temporary solutions; in effect, nothing done by way of real policies by conscious effort). (2) mindless and needless bureaucracy, which ensures that a thing that can be done in 1 year can only be done in 5 years.

    As to legislation and policy making, which is what the elected representatives are expected to do, I have not seen any leader for quite some time, who actually has any worthwhile national or social goals. All they do is to please the voting masses through whatever means and methods they can lay their hands on. That includes professing falsely their commitment to social or national improvement, but operating on self-interest and self-interest alone.

    I believe my conviction, though extreme, is not entirely without its basis for truth. If it were so, the question surfaces somewhat along the liens that Miller expressed: "...we Indians do not want another one (that is so called a mass-appeal leader)" If we can rally around to do some level of good governance somehow, that itself may outweigh the sum of a few grand leaders put together.

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