Over and over again right wingers desperately try to compare Barack Obama to the losing candidacies of previous Democratic Presidential candidates such as Walter Mondale in 1984, Michael Dukakis in 1988, & John Kerry in 2004. But the fact is Obama’s candidacy has little in common with any of them. Obama’s candidacy actually much more similarly resembles Ronald Reagan’s run for the White House in 1980.

Reagan ran his campaign in 1980 against a very unpopular sitting President, Jimmy Carter, with gas prices out of control and the economy in the dumps. Obama is running his campaign against a clone of a very unpopular sitting President with gas prices out of control and the economy in the dumps. Certainly with John McCain having voted with President Bush 95% of the time in 2007 and 100% of the time this year and with McCain sharing Bush’s views on all of the biggest issues facing America, there’s little difference between the two of them. McCain’s candidacy represents Bush’s legacy and that of course gives Obama a huge advantage much like Reagan had in 1980 vs. Carter.

But Obama & Reagan share more in common than just their similar circumstances. They are also very similar politicians despite having very different views on the issues. Reagan was a great speaker that created a lot of excitement among many Americans just as Obama is a great speaker who creates a lot of excitement among many Americans. While Mondale, Dukakis, & Kerry may have been right on the issues (and they were) they were not particularly great speakers and they were not energizing politicians. It makes no sense to compare a politician with the magnetic appeal of Barack Obama to Mondale, Dukakis, or Kerry.

Obama is none of those men, he is the Democrat’s Ronald Reagan.
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An Introduction

Men are innately self-centred, no matter they are sophists, intellectuals, ordinary populace, civil servants, beggars…etc. Due to these characteristics, countless problems are arisen, and if there is no any institution to govern these men’s negative natures, the whole state would steps toward anarchy.

Cambodian government is, of course, separated between three branches; executive, legislative, and judicial institutions. Indeed, all branches single-mindedly targets to offer possible benefits to its people.

Professor George Mckenna, in one of his excerpts called “Why Government!”, claims that government has four basic compulsions to be executed (McKenna, 1998, 7)2.

I. To Establish Justice.

The term “justice” is extremely convoluted to articulate. Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Augustine…etc, all have different opinions for the term “justice”. Not only amongst the people, different forms of government; capitalism, socialism, and democracy, provide different perspectives. We could define the word justice by presenting a figure of a blindfold woman with a set of scales. The scales symbolize balance and fairness; the blindfold stands for impartiality (McKenna, 1998, 7)2. “Justice does not necessarily mean treating everyone alike; otherwise all workers would receive the same pay and all students would earn the same grade, regardless of performance or effort. The impartiality of justice is not completely indiscriminate” (McKenna, 1998, 7)2.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from jail that just law is one that seeks to “uplift” people; an unjust law “degrades” them (McKenna, 1998, 8)2. For Aristotle’s perspective, just is “the proportional,” meaning that each person should be given what is due to him or her (McKenna, 1998, 8)2. Plato, spiritually defined justice as initiated by internal soul. Justice in the city depends on justice in the soul. If men had unjust souls and therefore allowed their desires to govern their conduct, they would not, presumably, recognize the need to do only what they were good at and would meddle in others’ affairs (Forsyth and Soper, 1988, 24)3.

Pot Pot, Ieng Sary, Kieve Samphan, on the other hand, took advantages from the word Justice. “The three ghosts”4, as the American ambassador called, converted the word justice to fulfill their utopian aspirations. To create justice, the three ghosts evacuated all people from all towns to build up cooperatives in the rural areas. Schools, money, pagodas, private property, and other facilities were totally abolished. Democratic Kampuchea’s constitution (1975-1979), Chapter Nine, Article 12, paragraph 6 stated that “There is absolutely no unemployment in Democratic Kampuchea” (Jennar,1995,86)5. This constitution was the instrument that contains connotation to oppress on its inhabitants.

Justice occurs only in the peaceful environment. Because peace could allocate the proportional time for people to think, to set their short-term and long-term goals, and therefore, government potentially could enforce their performances. Since its revival from the protracted war, Cambodian government has tried her utmost to prevalently offer justice to citizens. The constitution is one of the most revered symbols of the Cambodian nation. Chapter III, which covers Cambodian people’s right and obligation, from article 31 through article 50, Cambodian people, regardless of sex, religious belief, political stance, age, and other social status are protected by law6. This is the notion to prove that the constitution is the pillar to provide justice to the people. The new Cambodian government which is known as the “the economic government” led by Samdech Hun Sen as the Prime Minister, focuses on several policies; eliminating on-going logging activities, kidnappings, and illegal checkpoints throughout the country, in order to bring about justice to his people (Kim Hourn, 1999, 25)7.

II. To Ensure Domestic Tranquility.

Philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr noted that “every community seeks consciously and unconsciously to make social peace and order the first goal of its life” and he also added that “for the simple reason that chaos means nonexistence” (McKenna, 1998, 9)2. As stated above, because men are innately self-important, government is the compulsory institution to cater domestic tranquility.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) imagined about a state of nature in which there was no government. There would be no police, no jails, no courts, no legislatures, no government authority of any sort. Hobbes evaluated such a state as a nightmare; everyone would do whatever to gain interests, because they would not be penalized by the court. Hobbes finally summed up such a state as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (McKenna, 1998, 9)2.

For Plato, to tranquilize the state, citizens are to be divided into three classes; the small class of rational people is to rule the state with the support of the ‘spirited’ or soldier class, from whom the rulers themselves, called ‘guardians’, are selected during the common process of education. The masses in the lowest of the three classes are excluded from any part in government; their role is to obey, and to supply the community’s needs by engaging in useful trades (R.M.Hare,1991,65)1.

Madison wrote that since men were no angels, we require some kind of armed umpire to keep us from harming one another (McKenna, 1998, 9)2. Professor George McKenna proclaimed that coercion is the available source of the government to stabilize the state (McKenna, 1998, 7)2, and no one can hold this source besides the government, which is comprised of people.

In the past thirties years, Cambodia had come across terrible ordeals of war trauma. In her brand-new renaissance, the government has put her ultimate endeavour to convert the whole Cambodian state into an island of peace. Knowing that unless people have adequate facilities to live in human conditions and dignities, the government has actively played her role, in order to attain that goal, in both local and international stages. Constitution plays the gigantically crucial role to turn the whole Cambodian state into the stable island.

As the result from tireless efforts, Cambodian government was able to resume its seat at the United Nations, became the full member of ASEAN in December 1998, and has also attained other political policies (Kim Hourn, 1999, 25)7.

III. To Provide for the Common Defense.

Cambodian government knows who they were in the past, who they presently are, and prospectively who they would be in the future by setting the accurate goals. Chapter I, article 2, of the Cambodian constitution states that “The territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia absolutely can’t be invaded, that has stipulated in her map…”8 The past thirty years of war has dramatically taught Cambodians on how to strengthen their stance in the present as well as in the future time.

Government allocates budget to defend its people and integrity; moreover, many bilateral and multi-lateral agreements, related to protecting its border, protecting Cambodian people living abroad, harmonizing regional territorial integrity, fighting against terrorism…etc. Chapter I and IV are the genuine outcomes of the Cambodian government to provide for the common defense. It is the government who has adequate resource to prevent the internal conflicts and external invasion.

IV. To Promote the General Welfare.

Maslow asserted that People desire for hierarchy of motives; starting from physiological needs to safety needs to love needs, esteem needs, and finally self-actualization needs (Myers,1990, 314)9. Besides the three chronological obligations of the government written above, government is assigned to be the welfare-supplier to all the Cambodian citizens. Business regulation, helping the disabled and orphans in the form of payments or shelters. For this purpose, varieties of institution, governmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations have been established to accelerate the process. Constitution also claims the role of the government on this goal.

Government should be like a tree that unconditionally and tirelessly provides shade to all who are in need. Or like the parents who cater cares for the children. Government would always heroically venture to sacrifice everything for the goods of its citizens, as Buth Savong wrote in his book called “The Lesson for Life”;

Enlightened Shade, Enlightened Life

In the dry season, absence of wind, in the middle of field, the heat is enormously high, but the tree can still bare such an ordeal respectfully.

Look! Admire the tree that provides cool shade to men and animals, always be tolerant to the sun’s ray, in accordance to her nature.

Likewise, the guardian/breadwinner is the comfortable shade of the other, he or herself has to possess the quality of endurance, struggle for the hardship.

Admire the parents! Both of them are the guardians/breadwinners of the child/children, how have they endured the suffering.

Enlightenment that is achieved by gigantic endeavour, is always be the shade of heart.

………..(Buth Savong, 2003, 58)10.

In the book entitled, “The Tao Inner Peace”, Diane Dreher suggested the style of leadership through Taoist philosophy. In that book, she stated that leader would resemble the water, which is always cool and timelessly beneficial.

“The best people (government) are like water.

They (government) benefits all things,

And do not compete with them.

They (government) settle in low places,

…………………………………………….

Tao.(Tao 8)” (Dreher, 1990,180)11.

Conclusion.

Government is a mean to an end! There is no need at all, if men are innately insightful, philosophical, psychologically enlightened, or if the government does not function well as expected. But since men are evil creatures, government is required to cease the upheavals of the people, as well as benefiting the people from all walks of life. The four basic duties stated above, is initial answer to the question “why government?” Still government has endless contracts, which they have done with the people during the election campaign to be executed.
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Mark Warner was elected governor of Virginia in 2001 after losing a closer than expected Senate race to John Warner five years earlier. Virginia law does not permit its governor to succeed himself, so Warner’s term ended in January when the newly-elected Governor, Tim Kaine, was inaugurated. Therefore, he will be able to devote himself to full-time campaigning for president.

The fact that Warner was a Democratic governor in a strong “red” state will be a positive for him. However, even though the Republican presidential candidate has carried Virginia every time since 1968, a Democratic governor in the state is not unusual. In fact, since 1977, Virginia has elected a Democratic governor every time a Republican is in the White House. The opposite has been true when a Democrat is in the White House.

If Warner is nominated by the Democrats and George Allen is nominated by the Republicans, the Mother of Presidents will be guaranteed to have produced our next Chief Executive.

Now Warner has a pretty good fallback position if he is not the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. Because of this possible opportunity, he likely will not officially get into the 2008 race for the White House (although he has begun campaigning like many others) unless he determines that he has a more than fair chance of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

Of course, for this “Plan B” of sorts to work out, a couple of things would first have to happen. First, Hillary Clinton would have to become the 2008 nominee. Then she would have to be defeated by the Republican nominee in the general election. Those two occurrences would leave the door wide open for Warner.

Then in 2009, he could attempt to recapture the governorship of Virginia, where governors cannot serve consecutive terms. He would be the clear favorite to win, and if successful, would become one of only a handful of men to have served in that position more than once.

Assuming he is elected, he would have the enviable position of being a sitting second-term Democratic governor in a “red” state when 2012 rolls around. With no big-name name or celebrity candidates like Hillary in the mix, he would likely be among the favorites to win the Democrats’ open presidential nomination battle.
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The latest hot topic of debate in world affairs for the last one month has been “Iran and Its Nuclear Energy Program” . There are all kind of debates going on the effect of Nuclear Proliferation and its effects in World Peace. let me introduce my fellow readers to what exactly Nuclear Proliferation means:

Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons production technology and knowledge to nations that do not already have such capabilities. It has been opposed by many nations with and without nuclear weapons, who fear that more countries with nuclear weapons may increase the possibility of nuclear warfare, de-stabilize international or regional relations, or infringe upon the national sovereignty of individual nation-states.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been the primary international anti-proliferation organization since it was established in 1957 by the United Nations. It operates a safeguards system as specified under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968. It has involved cooperation in developing nuclear energy while ensuring that civil uranium, plutonium, and associated plants are used only for peaceful purposes and do not contribute in any way to proliferation or nuclear weapons programs.

Those countries which have signed the NPT has been in deep trouble in the recent past. Simple because like very UN laws this also is used by the powerful countries against them. If you take the Iran case in particular there is no concrete evidence which shows Iran has a Weapon Program. But it seems every other country in the UN is more or less convinced that they have one. The point I want to throw some light here is “What makes a Nuclear weapon so attractive for most of country”. The main reason why many country is trying to become a nuclear power is “The protection it gives”. If Saddam Hussein had a nuclear weapon, then the truth is that the entire latest Iraq war would have never happened. No world leader is crazy now to attack a country which possess Nuclear Weapon and sacrifice so much of his forces along with his political career. If there was a chance of this happening, this world would have ended during the cold war days. During Cold War it was actually the Nuclear Weapons which kept the peace in the world. In todays world with terrorism threat looming around the world, this is the main cause put forward by Nuclear powers to prevent other countries from acquiring Nuclear weapons. or in other words “Osama Bin Laden and company helps these nuclear powers to keep their control over other countries”.

Nuclear Weapons are giving nations a sense of protection, which the UN security council failed to provide. The recent Iraq War demonstrated how in effective is the UN Security Council. Us and its allies attacked Iraq without a UN mandate, not even a finger was raised. Whereas in 1990 when Iraq attacked so much actions were rightly taken. So it emphasizes the point that the UN security council is used to control and target the Third world countries or in other words make them fall in line. Every nation in the country has the right to go Nuclear and protect itself from the wrath of the superpowers. The underlining principle of the Nuclear strategy should be “Either Every country possess it or no one possess it”. Like Denzel washington’s character in crimpson Tide said “In the nuclear world War is the enemy”. So only solution is get rid off all nuclear weapons. There is no point of talking about reducing the weapon numbers. And for those who claims that Osama Bin Laden will get hold off a nuclear bomb.” What difference it makes whether it is fired by terrorist or by any country”. So get rid of it.
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Muchemi Wachira’s article following the December 2007political crisis in Kenya, “Foresight that May Have Saved this Country,” published in March 9, 2008 in Sunday Review of The Daily Nation is a testimony that many good constitution are born out of crisis.

The article highlighted a motion brought for debate in Parliament in 1968 by Mr. Joseph Theuri, a Nyeri MP in the Kenyan Parliament. He had brought a motion seeking the return of the position of Prime Minister and scrapping of excessive presidential powers. The move was vehemently opposed by the government. Mr. Theuri told Parliament that they can reject the motion today, it would not matter how long they will wait. They will finally embrace it.

But why are nations unable to come up with good constitutions until things go out of control with deaths and destruction? First, humanity is not comfortable for any change and especially if the status quo is still satisfying to them. In 1968, Kenya’s Attorney General, Charles Njonjo, backed by the then vice president, Mr. Daniel Arap Moi defended the political status quo. Quoting Theuri’s article, Mr. Moi said “Today the whole country has confidence in our president. How does the Honourable member know that the person he is trying to look for to become the Prime Minister will be a good man? I would like to put in no uncertain terms that we reject this motion in toto.”

Other reasons why good constitutions are often born out of crisis are selfishness, arrogance, failure to listen, and the desire to have ones way. Selfishness is partly related to desire to maintain status quo and the desire to amass more and more. Arrogance comes into play because of many factors which include upbringing, political environment, prejudicial beliefs, ego, and the desire to have one’s way.

There are attitudes that cultivate an environment for conflicts, and aggravate an already hostile environment. Such attitudes nurtures ‘I don’t care attitude’ among the masses. And when there is no one to care, anarchy reigns.

Selfishness, failure to listen to one another, arrogance, ego and any desire to have one’s way would exclude most stake holders in the country’s policy formulation, constitution making, legislation, governance, and development. This may also mean the ones in power may reject writing of a new constitution. And when such a situation prevailed for sometime, the results may be destruction and death. It is ironical that voice of reason and realization that people need one another is often appreciated after societies have lost so much. It is when they realize that they need one another that they may a write a just constitution, bring about infrastructure, and come up with services benefit all.

By Samwel Kipsang.
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The Executive Branch

This branch consists of a National Executive Council, foreign affairs, defense and finance departments.

The National Executive Council


As the top executive authority the council replaces the office of presidency or other highest executive office presently held. It consists of seven members who are elected for a non-renewable seven-year term. Members of the original council are elected with varying terms from one to seven years. Each year thereafter, one new member is elected for a seven-year term who replaces the one whose term expires.

The senior member of the council becomes president of the nation for a year. This would be the last year of his term in the council. For the initial council this would be the member elected for one-year term. At the end of the year, his term of presidency as well as membership of the council expires and the next senior council member, the one with two-year term, takes the office of the presidency and so on. This rule eliminates political struggle for presidency within the council, providing at the same time for equality of opportunity. The president presides over the council meetings and acts as the ceremonial head of the nation for diplomatic and other purposes. He speaks to the nation and the world on behalf of the National Executive Council. All executive decisions and national or foreign policies are made by a majority vote in the executive council within the framework established by the National Legislative Assembly.

Members to the council are elected from among the regional governors, past and present. They assemble once a year to elect one member to the National Executive Council for a 7-year term. The idea behind this process is that a member of the National Council must have experience at the regional (state) level, where the action is and where the democratic system is put into operation. Each governor gains knowledge and experience regarding socioeconomic aspects of democracy; he also accumulate valuable administrative and political knowledge and skills. These experiences are required because positions at the national level are remote from line functions since all domestic services are carried out at the regional and local levels. The national officials must be acqainted with and understand the nature of the public functions at the regional and local levels.

The Department of Foreign Affairs


The basic policies is based on the principle of equality of opportunity, particularly regarding the developing countries. Under current situations in diplomatic world, influenced by the economic elite and capitalistic norms, this approach may appear to be absurd. But if we want justice and prosperity in the world, we cannot get it through discrimination and subjugation of less developed countries by those developed, the United States in particular.

As in capitalism, where a small economic elite controls the operation of political and economic systems of an industrial country, on the world arena a few developed nations have control over the major economic resources of nearly all developing countries, through economic exploitation or political influence. Democracy within a nation cannot have a true and full meaning if the practicing nation allows its enjoyment only within its borders while practicing or consenting todiscrimination and suppression outside its borders.

A true democracy must have universal effects. A nation adopting it must recognize the universality of the principle of equality of opportunity. The developing nations must be relieved from economic or political subjugation. First, all national debts imposed on developing countries must be abolished to relieve the indebted nations from the impossible burden of paying off such debts. Creditor nations will not suffer much from this action since they have exploited the indebted nations for decades even centuries. Furthermore, as discussed before, the multinational financial firms in the United States, for example, will be broken down into smaller firms and their assets will be substantially diminished, since they will loose all their financial holdings in the production sectors, whether domestic or foreign as the capital in these firms is gradually transferred to the working class.

Second, all subsidiary firms of the domestic multinational corporations located in developing countries will be made independent by gradually transferring the capital of each firm to its workers employing the same wage-and-stock policy used for the domestic workers. After all, what is justified as being done within a democratic nation regarding the production of goods and services, must be also justified to be carried out in subsidiaries of the same firm abroad.

Third, all nations must be granted equal opportunity in international relations, whether economic, social or political. This kind of open diplomacy is crucial for peaceful coexistence of the nations. It establishes a rational ground for trust, resolving the conflicts through negotiations, and thus a strong ground for permanent peace. Governments not abiding by these democratic norms are considered enemies of peaceful coexistence and are gradually forced out of power by their own people through a democratic process induced by the democratic life within other nations. Because it is the responsibility of a democratic system to provide help in establishing equality of opportunity among other nations.

This democratic approach to foreign affairs is the only way that may allow, for the first time, opportunity to developing countries to develop on their own using their own chosen appropriate technology and process while benefiting from the technological and scientific knowledge available through advanced societies. It is also the only hope for global human prosperity, progress toward a global equilibrium, and a sustained and meaningful peace. Global disasters will be shared by all, so would global prosperities.

Presently, because of global disequilibrium, peace must be kept by force, where economically dominating nations, the United States in particular, tend to maintain the status quo through the presence of military power or by supporting despotic but friendly regimes in developing countries. The reality is that where force is needed to maintain order, justice and fairness are absent. There can be no real peace in a world with disequilibrium resulting from subjugation, suppression, discrimination or deprivation..

Department of Defense


Military power under the current global situation is, generally, needed mainly to guarantee forced domestic tranquility and international stability. Domestic unrest develops when there is exploitation, discrimination, poverty, insecurity and injustice. The state power then becomes necessary to suppress dissent and bring about a forced tranquility so the exploitation and discrimination can continue and capitalism controlled by the elite could prosper further. The military power is also needed to expand exploitation and suppression beyond the national borders into less fortunate countries or any other place they could be beneficially employed.

Technological democracy, by any practicing nation, tends to eliminate exploitation, discrimination and suppression of other nations. Policies toward other nations, particularly developing nations, drastically change tending toward equalization of opportunities. As more nations accept technological democratic system, the need for military force is substantially diminish to the negligible level of an international police force. As the world moves toward economic and social equilibrium, the need for military force diminishes and ultimately disappears. Consequently, in a technological democratic society, the size, level of armament, and sphere of activities of the military is substantially diminished and the Defense Department is responsible only to defend the nation within its borders if it is attacked from outside. However, this is quite unlikely to happen since under the rules of a strong new United Nations, very different from the present U.N., development of any aggressive force will be prevented. Thus under technological democracy, the size and activities of this department will be a small fraction of its present size and functions. Eventually the national military forces are transformed into a small international police force which for any operation abroad i9s placed under the command of the United Nations.

Two important principles must be noted here. First, in order to assist developing countries in getting rid of exploitation and discrimination, the country needs to expand its diplomatic relations with those countries particularly in the areas of economic, scientific and cultural affairs rather than through military imposition or suppression. Second, technological democracy tends to produce a highly educated, civilized and intellectual people. Such society need not have a strong military force either for self-defense or operation abroad, because it possesses a much greater power, an educated and civilized people. The history has shown over and over that when an advanced civilization was occupied by aggression, it soon was the aggressor that was assimilated into a stronger and more civilized culture and absorbed by its people. Thus, a technological democratic society cannot be truly conquered. It will ultimately subdue and conquer the conqueror.

It must not be mistaken that, measured by the standards of technological democracy, the United States, while technologically and scientifically advanced, is highly illiterate and primitive. That is why it has placed its trust on military might, a barbarian behavior, than in an advanced civilized population, which it is lacking. The strength of military power and its destructive capacity determine the level of barbarian nature of the people of that nation. By this description, the United States climb to the top of the list.

The Department of Finance


This department is responsible for all financial operations of the national system as well as providing funds for two major and essential services: health care and education. It consists of three main divisions: public consumption fund, general expenditures and revenues, and treasury and accounting.

The Public Consumption Fund


Here is where all consumption funds for social welfare expenditures are deposited and are transferred to regional offices according to the framework established by the Social Council. All the revenues from inheritance and profits go to this account and are spent primarily for education and health care. Any surplus remains in the fund’s account for future use. If expenditures exceed revenues, the difference is supplied by the general revenue division.

It may be questioned that while technological democracy does not allow profits, where then do the revenues from profits come from? The fact is that until this democratic system is fully established at home and all other nations and as long as capitalism is practiced by other nations, profits will be made. It is also because the market systems remains still depending on supply and demand. Thus during the transition period from capitalism and socialism to democracy, profit making is continued though by a diminishing trend and disappears once a full democracy is achieved.

General Expenditures and Revenues


Money for this division comes mainly from the sale of national resources extracted or processed by private firms such as oil, iron, gas, timber and many other resources. It is expected that the revenues from the use of these national resources would far exceed the expenditures of the national government and a substantial amount will be left for research, development, and investment. In countries with few or no resources, revenues will be raised through taxation. However, in must be noted that in a technological democratic society there is no individual income tax. All taxes are paid by the production institutions. Since there is neither poor nor rich in a democratic society, this form of taxation seems to be just and equitable.

At the same time, since the size of national government is drastically reduced, its budget is a fraction of the current budget. Thus, the rate of taxation, despite being paid by the production firms rather than individuals, is reduced substantially. The revenues from the national resources and taxes are collected by local governments according to procedures and standards established by the National Economic and Production Council. After taking the local government expenditures, the surplus is transferred to regional government which, after deducting its own expenditures, transfers the residues to the national treasury. It must be noted that the local and regional governments are established under the national position classification system and thus their expenditures, based on their diminished size, is quite definite and calculated. All lover governments budgets are preset and calculated based on equality of opportunity with other governments, and changes are subject to national review by the Technodem before they become effective. Therefore, each government, local or regional, knows exactly how much money it can appropriate for its budget.

The Treasury and Accounting


This division is where revenues are deposited and expenditures withdrawn. The national budget and accounting office is also part of this division. This accounting responsibility bestows upon this division the authority to supervise the proper spending of the people’s money. This office particularly checks the soundness of the expenditures, proper spending and accounting process of national, regional and local governments. It must be noted that no bureaucracy is needed to carry out this immense and complex task, the Technodem will do the job automatically, based on the principle of equality of opportunity, and report the results to the accounting office as well as the government involved. In the case of deficiency and failure to follow the rules concerning the budget, the problem must be resolved with the Technodem by the responsible government until a satisfactory solution is reached. The regional government is responsible for supervision of the regional and local expenditures on the grounds of equality of opportunity. Detailed structure and functions of the regional and local governments as well as production firms are presented in references presented below.

References:

1.Reza Rezazadeh, Technological Democracy: Ahumanistic Philosophy of the Future Society, 1990, pp. 259-265.

2. —————-, Tecnodemocratic Economic Theory: From Capitalism and Socialism to Democracy. 1991, pp.190-193.

Dr. Reza Rezazadeh

1080 Eastman Street, Platteville, WI 53818

Phone: (608)348-7064
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During the 20th Century, Marxism and capitalism were the contending economic theories and the world was almost engulfed by a Third World War due to this struggle.

However, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the other communist bloc governments laid the way for the triumph of capitalism. But today half of the world’s population lives on two dollars a day or less, and the developed countries are in an economic recession that is reminiscent of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Once again people are asking, “Is there an alternative to capitalism?”

In 1959 P.R. Sarkar, an Indian philosopher, answered this question when he presented the Progressive Utilization Theory (known by the acronym, PROUT). PROUT is an economic theory that addresses the defects of both capitalism and Marxism and offers the promise of a new economic order in which the world’s resources will be distributed in an equitable and rational fashion.

We can understand PROUT by looking at six essential features of this new socio-economic system:

1. Spirituality:

Both capitalism and Marxism are materialist philosophies with a worldview that gives little (in the case of capitalism) or no importance to spirituality. PROUT on the other hand is founded on a spiritual outlook. According to Sarkar, the material world is but an expression of consciousness and humans are stewards rather than ultimate owners of any physical wealth. The goal of society is to provide a base from which humans can expand their full mental, physical and spiritual possibilities. This spiritual basis of PROUT has important implications for the management of physical resources, for the development of human resources and for the establishment of proper government.

When adopt the spiritual world view envisioned by Sarkar then our relationship with the environment will change. Similarly when we regard other human beings as manifestations of that one Consciousness then our relationships with each other will change. Finally, when such a spiritual world view permeates our whole society, we will get the kind of service-minded and self-less government that is currently lacking in the world today.

2. A “Floor and a Ceiling”:

Welfare economists have always emphasized that the minimum necessities of life should be provided for everyone in a properly structured society. Efforts to make a minimum wage or to provide various kinds of welfare systems to help impoverished people are all part of this concern.

P.R. Sarkar agreed with some aspects of welfare economics and stated that the minimum necessities of life should be guaranteed to all members of society. However, he recognized that if the society would just give people a check at the end of the month, with their required income, then this would only encourage laziness. According to Sarkar, the best arrangement is that society should provide people with the purchasing power to procure the minimum necessities of life in exchange for their labor in a job. Full employment providing everyone with the proper amount of purchasing power thus provides the “floor” of the economic system. No one should be allowed to “live in the basement.”

Where PROUT breaks new ground is in its attention to the “ceiling” of the economic system. The poverty of many is tied to the affluence and over-accumulation of a few, and if we really want to bring about a harmonious society we need to think about putting limits on the amount of physical wealth that a person can accumulate. In the first principle of PROUT it is stated that “no individual should be allowed to accumulate any physical wealth without the clear permission and approval of the collective body of society.”

This concept is sure to evoke howls of protest from the super-rich, the very rich and even middle class people who aspire to wealth. The classic argument of the wealthy people is that by their effort wealth is created and this wealth will trickle down to the rest of the society. The apologists of laissez faire capitalism have been very successful in convincing people that this is the truth, but the starving, sick and homeless people of the world have been waiting for a long time for the wealth to trickle down, and it doesn’t seem to be happening.

3. Economic Democracy:

In the past century a great deal was said about making the “world safe for democracy.” But the “democracy” that was talked about was political democracy. In many of the impoverished countries of the world, the same ones where people struggle with $2.00 per day, the people have the right to vote but they do not have any say in their economic life. Similarly, even in developed countries a person can vote to decide who will be the next president, but he or she usually has no vote in deciding economic matters that are very close to home, like keeping a job.

According to PROUT theory, society should be organized in a manner that will empower as many people as possible. One of the best ways to do this is reorganize the ownership and operation of economic enterprises. Under capitalism the primary business form is the corporation. The owners of the shares of a corporation have all the votes and decide how the enterprise will be run. Those who work in the enterprise have little or no say in the vital economic decisions that will affect their lives.

The PROUT system would establish the cooperative as the most important business form. Most enterprises, except the very large key industries and very small businesses, would be organized as cooperatives. Those who work in the enterprise will be the owners and will elect management and will vote in elections governing the running of the enterprise.

In a PROUTist economy the very small enterprises with few employees and dealing in non essential goods would be privately owned and operated, and the medium enterprises would be owned and operated as cooperatives. Large scale key industries (energy, communication, transportation, etc.) would be publicly managed either by local governments or by special public bodies (in unitary political systems). This three-tiered system of private, cooperative and publicly run enterprises would provide the base for economic democracy.

4. Economic Reorganization (Decentralized Economy, Balanced Economy and Regional Economic Self Sufficiency)

If we want to bring about the economic well being of all of the people, then we must also make sure that some geographic areas are not depressed while other areas are thriving. The best way to do bring about economic development and prosperity for everyone is to decentralize the economy, develop all sectors of the economy and to strive for regional economic self-sufficiency.

One of the biggest reasons for economic imbalance within any particular country is the modern trend of urbanization. Usually most manufacturing and many other services serving the manufacturing sector are situated in cities. The metropolitan areas thrive, and people in the country side are either unemployed or work in low-wage or subsistence agriculture.

The best way to reverse this situation is to place some industries, and supporting services and industries in rural areas. In this way excessive congestion of urban areas will be avoided and strong regional centers will provide employment and services to previously neglected rural areas.

Economic decentralization should also be coupled with balancing the various sectors of the economy: industry, agriculture and services. In some countries more than 75% of the people work in agriculture and a small minority in industry and services. Underdeveloped countries with poor economies are usually structured in this way. In industrialized countries a huge majority of the population work in industry or in services, and very few people are engaged in agriculture.

P.R. Sarkar said that a more ideal set-up would have 20% of the population in agriculture, 20% in agro industries (producing goods using agricultural produce), 20% in agrico-industries (supplying machinery and tools for agriculture) and the rest of population in industry and services.

A society with this kind of economic balance would be better able to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Currently “globalization” is the buzz-word of the era, and economic self-sufficiency is not in vogue. But is it really healthy for any country to neglect its agricultural sector and rely on imported food? Similarly should some countries remain with little or no industry and rely on far-away countries for all their finished products?

Generally countries which depend solely on agriculture or which export raw materials like wood and minerals remain poor while heavily industrialized countries thrive. This is not good for the non-industrialized areas, but it is also not healthy for the developed countries as well. In times of war or in time of any disruption to transportation, their vital food supplies will be in danger.

On top of this, in a world where climate warming and ecological difficulty have become major problems, does it continue to make sense to rely on centers of supply (for either raw or finished products) that are halfway around the world?

PROUT recommends that countries in a particular geographic region come together and form economic zones that have balanced, decentralized and self-sufficient economies. Such an arrangement would be ecologically advantageous, provide for economic security in times of war or unforeseen disruptions of transportation, and most importantly would insure that no particular country or region will remain in poverty while others thrive.

5. Moral Leadership

The various plans for a better organization of the economy and for economic democracy are good in theory, but the problem of materializing these noble ideas depends on the quality of the human beings in our society. If elected and appointed officials are corrupt then these officials will prevent the implementation of policies designed to bring about social and economic welfare. For example the social equality preached by the Marxists was belied by the reality of corrupt government officials living in luxury while the masses remained in poverty.

The only way out of present economic and political problems is to elevate the moral standard of our society. If people are properly educated, conscious of their social and economic responsibilities and moral, then democracy can thrive and moral leadership will come to the fore. The hope of the future will rest on the shoulders of men and women who will enter public office with the spirit of service and sacrifice rather than for the selfish purpose of lining their own pockets or enhancing their prestige.

A proper spiritual outlook coupled with an educational system that is free from political interference and focused on the all around development of human beings is the best way to bring forth leaders who are moral and work for the good of society.

6. Global Governance

Against the backdrop of the universe, the earth is a small planet and human beings have to learn how to live together in harmony on this small planet. The best way to minimize the possibilities of war and to safeguard the rights of all people is to establish a global government. Previous attempts in the 20th Century in this direction, namely the League of Nations and the United Nations, have not been adequate and it is time to move onto a better level of global coordination.

In his book Problem of the Day, P.R. Sarkar laid out a concept of world government that should be achievable in the near future. He advocated the establishment of a bi-chambered world government. One chamber, the lower house, would have representation based on population and the other chamber, the upper house, would provide equal representation for all nations. The upper house will not be able to pass a law unless it has first been passed by the lower chamber, but the upper house will also have the right to reject bills passed by the lower chamber. Sarkar envisioned a stage-wise movement towards world government.

These are the core economic and political ideas that form the backbone of the Progressive Utilization Theory.
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