The secret of the political kitchen

You can't call it a democracy

Everyone knows that we have a democracy in our country. We elect the President. He is not Rurikovich, not Romanov, and not even Holstein-Gottorp. He did not inherit the throne, but won in the elections. That is acquired, we believe, democratically.

However, in reality, democracy is not elections at all. Or, more precisely, not only elections. The notion that by going to the polls once every six years to throw a ballot into the ballot box, we thereby form democracy is one of the most popular myths of Putin's Russia.

Let's consider an example for comparison. Let's say you want to feed a person. Put an empty plate on the table in front of him and offer to eat. And for some reason he blinks his eyes, sniffs his nose, even, perhaps, wiggles his ears. But he doesn't put anything in his mouth. Doesn't bite.

Okay, you've been generous. Let's put him another spoon and fork on the table. Alas, the result is still the same. Add a salt and pepper shaker... And this guy is still hungry.

We will tie a napkin, politely offer a toothpick, wish you a pleasant appetite ... And he only clicks his teeth from hunger.

It is clear to everyone that one can eat only when, in addition to a plate, a salt shaker and a toothpick, there is also food. Moreover, it is desirable to eat hearty, and not a moldy crust, from which the stomach will then hurt. Food is healthy, not noodles from morning to evening, seven days a week. Only a regular and balanced diet allows you to be healthy and develop normally.

Democracy is a similar story. Allowing us to throw a ballot in the ballot box is as much like democracy as an empty plate is about healthy eating. Political scientists usually call the regime that exists in today's Russia not democracy, but electoral authoritarianism - a regime in which we vote regularly, and as a result of such voting, the same long-familiar politicians win. Voting is not enough for a true democracy. It needs no less conditions than for a good dinner in a restaurant.

First, there should be a menu where all possible candidates for the presidential, gubernatorial or deputy post are marked. Simply put, no one should be cut off from the elections under a far-fetched pretext or because some people who work for the current government have sifted them out of their own free will.

Secondly, the restaurant menu should contain adequate information about the quality of the dishes offered. That is, each "dish" should have the opportunity to express itself in a variety of media. Let's emphasize each. If only those that are obviously inedible enter into competition with the “main dish”, such food cannot be called democracy.

Thirdly, we should judge each of the dishes according to the “price-quality” criterion. It is impossible, for example, to hide critical information. It is impossible to hide from the voters that for this outwardly attractive dish they will have to pay a monthly salary. But with that dish the day before, customers were poisoned. That is, we must know what the current leader’s political course costs us and what the course of one or another competitor can cost us, judging, say, from the experience of Venezuela, where his ideas were actually put into practice.

Fourth, the kitchen should be open to a variety of inspections. Both from the sanitary doctors and from the restaurant critics. Translated from ordinary language into the language of the political kitchen, this means that the possibility of falsifying the election results must be completely eliminated. And if they are discovered, the press should widely inform the whole country about them.

Fifthly, not even the best restaurant that deserves the attention of customers should be able to monopolize the catering market.

Let there be a dozen other establishments with a fundamentally different cuisine nearby.

Let all the candidates who lost the elections remain in the political arena. Even if they lose time after time. The very fact of their presence will not allow the leader to relax.

And finally, sixthly, our nutrition must be balanced. Even if we love desserts, lunch should be made up of salads, soups, meat and fish, leaving the sweet at the end of the meal. Simply put, there should be a separation of powers, each of which has its own function.

And all this must be ensured for real democracy, in addition to the obvious things - those with which we began our conversation. Plates and cups, forks and spoons, salt and pepper shakers, napkins and toothpicks. Building a real democracy requires very serious efforts, and not just the opening of polling stations, where the same noodles are either shoved into our mouths or hung on our ears. Building democracy is dozens of times more difficult than building a system of electoral authoritarianism. But it pays off handsomely.

ANNOUNCEMENT

&NBSP
On February 14 at 19.00 in the conference hall of the European University in St. Petersburg there will be an intellectual battle "Karl Marx: an extinct star or a classic of the social sciences?". The dispute is being led by Dmitry Travin (EU St. Petersburg) and Andrey Belykh (RANEPA). Free admission.