“Our country is now an oligarchy in which “unlimited political bribery” has created “a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors.” This is not a speech by an Armenian opposition figure. This is an extract from the recent interview with the former US President Jimmy Carter. Meaning that in 2010 the US Supreme Court has actually allowed the corporations to “contribute” unlimited money to the politics, Carter said that it is contrary to all that made the United States a big country, with its political system.
If I were an American, I would have asked, “Wasn’t it so in your time?” But in this case, it is a secondary question. And the primary question is the following statement: what seemed to be a model 20 years ago, now it has become controversial, and our notions about the justice of the Western political system, as well as equal rights of the citizens, is no longer unshaken. Here, money plays a critical role not only in Armenia or Russia but also in the United States which is the vanguard of democracy. Simply, what is expressed in us in the profane, cynical and arrogant manner, “over there”, it is more subtle and covered up. “Somebody’s who’s already in Congress has a lot more to sell to an avid contributor than somebody who’s just a challenger,” says Carter. Maybe this leads to a “reproduction of power” regardless of whether the congressman is a Republican or a Democrat.
These doubts allow us to assume that we are dealing with the crisis of standards, values and systems adopted in the 20th century, and the methods of solution are not yet seen. There are quite exotic offers in this regard, one of which is as follows: not to hold elections at all and to determine the administration by a drawing (lottocracy). The support of this idea is particularly the professor of the Pennsylvania University, Alexander Guerrero. The scientist reminds that 44 percent of the US congressmen earn more than 1 million dollars a year, 82 percent are men, 86 percent are the whites, and more than half of them are lawyers and bankers. So where are the equality and justice? Isn’t it clear whose interests they will defend? As a statement of fact, surely, everything is true; as a solution, flipping “heads and tails”, to put it mildly, is also not an ideal solution. Moreover, swindling is also possible here.
The main difference between us and the Americans, except for vulgar and subtle manifestations of the same phenomena, is that the vast majority of Americans “keeps its head” and as a result, is absolutely indifferent to who elects how and rules. The vast majority of Armenians is poor, and therefore it cherishes hope that of the administration is changed, his life will also be changed. As to how fundamental are these hopes, we have repeatedly become sure.
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Aram ABRAHAMYAN
