Why do I support Kejariwal?

A question has been asked as to why do I support Kejariwal.  Kejariwal does not have the gift of the gab, he cannot make a good repartee, can make tactical mistakes and also does not speak English fluently.  The reason is pretty simple.  Human beings can exist only in societies and societies need infrastructure to exist.  And all that we value as wealth is possible only through this group existence.  Individually and without collaboration it would be impossible to generate the kind of wealth that organized societies generate.  Towards this end, the physical infrastructure, of course, is important.  But even more important is the infrastructure of ideas and practices that decide the interpersonal relationships and sharing of the fruits of such collaborative living. In fact, it is this infrastructure that also decides the kinds of fruits that the collaborative existence would like to generate.

Many of the things that we see as a vice today were programmed into us by nature as means to survival.  Greed, anger, lust all fall under this category of survival tools that are not really needed today, not with the intensity that is hardwired into us.  Take the example of the hardwired liking for fat and sugar in the human race.  It was a tool for survival when the chances of having to go without food were pretty high.  But today we have to consciously and deliberately fight off this craving.  Those who do not do so turn obese and sick and become non-productive and a burden on the society.

Because of such ingrained greed, given the opportunity and a large enough temptation any human being is likely to succumb to take away more than his fare share.  It seems to me that apart from this ingrained greed, we also have a squirrel programmed inside us.  This squirrel wants to take all the fruits not merely to indulge its hunger but also to salt it away so others cannot reach it even if they are starving.  As the productivity of the society increases so does the size of the common wealth and it tempts many who devise devious means to start squirreling it away.  It is a sick behavior like that of an obese person who likes to stuff himself with all the food that he does not need and also wants his refrigerator to be overflowing all the time.  But then as we said it is all very human.  And we have to have means to fight off this natural tendency.

The point I am trying to make is that the infrastructure that a society needs to build before it builds any other is one that can check this greed that is bad for the society and also for the greedy individual.  It was just NOT possible to do so in a monarchy or an oligarchy.  But it is definitely possible to do so in a democracy and it must be done as the very first thing.  Our squirrels in the form of clever politicians have realized that if somehow they can thwart this infrastructure, they can enjoy undue power and wealth as in an oligarchy or monarchy while shouting from the rooftops that it is a democracy!  And they have successfully thwarted it for over six decades.

And hence if a politician says that his first priority is to build this infrastructure and that everything else can wait, he makes the most sense and must be supported at ALL COSTS.  For the cost of not doing so is humongous, terrible, horrendous and excruciating.  We have already tasted the fruits of being without this infrastructure.

Kejariwal is just an ordinary man and probably a below-average politician.  In fact there are only ordinary men on this planet and those who claim to be otherwise are either conceited or cheats. Some may have stronger brains and some may be more brawny, but they can take advantage of this endowment only because they are enabled by the society. Kejariwal matters not because of any great traits or personal qualities but because of his contribution in bringing about awareness of the costs of not building this foremost infrastructure and his stated position to give it priority above everything else.

All other parties and leaders including BJP and Modi, notwithstanding what they say, are committed to thwarting this infrastructure for as long as they can.  Make no mistakes on this count.  

If AAP were not there, I might vote for Modi.  But if AAP is there, all right thinking people must vote for it.

The institution of Lokpal is not against enterprise, entrepreneurship or markets.  It is against abuse of power by big bad squirrels amongst us. And it must be created and created right before doing anything else.