Ilusionary governments, by Jacob Gelt Dekker Recently, Curacao swore in its fourth cabinet since the autonomy of 10-10-10. The suggestion was created that changing leadership of a top-down governmental power structure would significantly improve welfare and wellbeing of the people of the island. The autonomy of 10-10-10 was entirely based on such an assumption; the top shifted from colonial power in The Hague, to the autonomous country of the Netherlands Antilles with five islands and, at the magic date of 10-10-10, to the island of Curacao itself. In reality, neither restructuring state power structures, nor rapid succession of governments affected welfare and wellbeing of its people much, if at all. Most people may even claim that they are worse off today than they were before. So, has the long fought battle of power to the people, against power to a few become an illusionary ideological battle, a Don Quichote dueling windmills? The sad reality is that lately, the influence of government on personal economy and happiness was either enormously exaggerated and had, at best, marginal effects, or simply did materialize. So, has the top-down power structure of government become an illusion, a fata morgana? Is it still true that the closer we are to the top, the better off we are, and those at the bottom just have bad luck? Or is government as we know it today, no more than a charade of false pretenses, ultimately only serving the players of politicians? And, yes, cynically it may sound, many believe that government only benefits the economy of participating politicians. “They all line their own pockets and we are left holding the empty bag.” Over the last twenty years, lives of all people on the globe were affected dramatically by the digital world and the era of communication. Social media enabled empowerment, participation and revolutions on all levels and of more people than ever before. The internet changed production, distribution, marketing and consumption, and pyramidal power structures became flat. The well fare and wellbeing of all were effected enormously. None of those monumental changes were initiated, caused or provoked by governments and political leaders, to the contrary, politicians, often and unnecessarily, delayed introduction and tried limiting participation. The world economy has a hard time to catch up with its own rapidly changing patterns of production and consumption. Even a few giant monopolistic corporations, from the being at the forefront and midst of this revolution, like Microsoft, lost grip on the development and had to yield to millions of mom-and-pop ICT- initiatives. Measured by antiquated economic parameters, we have lived through an economic recession for the last six years. Almost hysterically, governmental top-down power structures tried to get ahold of the situation but to little or no avail. Top-down political leaders today failed and are much like horse drawn coachman trying to chauffer Formula-1 race cars; they have become grotesque pompous harlequins out of a historic stage play,clownesquely clinging to power and privilege that has long been outmoded. Interactive markets and their disruptive innovations will shape and determine the welfare and wellbeing of our societies, ultimately irrespective of all political leadership.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 09:02:38 +0000
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