Blessed Scrutiny

The Lebanese system is not that bad, and even people like Michel Aoun have great uses.

My event is better than yours

The system works, we just need to shout less. So was the opinion of P.M. Seniora on a “national unity” Iftar dinner last Friday.

The Premier insisted he is not underestimating the importance of the right of political divergence in a democratic country where public freedoms and in particular political freedoms are observed,
“But I don’t see the need for the sharpness in expression where voices are sounded out, causing tension for citizens”

One commentator on a previous post agrees:

“Geagea is a traitor, Hariri kid is a kid, Nasrallah is a war monger and a terrorist, Jumblatt is a flip flopper,” etc… why can’t we discuss ideas, political plans, economic strategies, Israel and Syria’s hidden agendas? Does it always have to be on the personal level of the leaders? Why can’t we admit that each one has people that he represents and pay little bit of respect to those people? the more you insult this leader, the more you insult their followers”

Words of wisdom. You see, when we target leaders, our judgment of actions becomes clouded. Consider for instance a situation where Michel Aoun, A bête noire to the March 14 movement did a great service to the displaced in Mount-Lebanon:

We all know that Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader, is less than transparent (to put it mildly) when it comes to spending the government’s money allocated for the civil war’s displaced. So when Michel Aoun, a political foe, sets up a large event to “expose the theft and lies” in that dossier, Jumblatt immediately felt the heat of scrutiny and staged a counter-event to prove him wrong. The question is: who is benefiting?

It was a classic situation where political competition benefits the consumers (citizens). This is why, for our own benefits, we should learn how to look at political actions, not politicians. We need to reduce our “brand loyalty” and constantly shop for superior product offerings. Let’s establish the political equivalent of a consumer protection agency (some say that would be the free press but I say it’s more an attitudinal shift)

Imagine for example having a Aoun-like competitor to Nabih Berri challenging him to account for the money allocated for majlis inma2 al Janoub (The Council for Development of Southern Lebanon). wouldn’t that be great?