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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

No Honor Among Thieves?

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Will Rogers, the American Ostap Vyshnia, once said that America has no criminal class, “except Congress, of course.” The seemingly endless wrangling on who will become Speaker makes one regret that these two titans of twentieth century humor never met each other and died before the time when they were really needed, that is, now.

Once upon a time I was staff director of a hybrid commission of the US government, which means basically a Congressional commission, which in turn means that I got to know Congress, its members, and the fundamentals of how the whole thing works. In Congress a member’s word is his bond, because every first-termer finds out very soon that the whole system runs on the honor system. “Sure, I’ll support a military base in your district, if you back my pet bill coming up next month.” Woe unto him who does not do what he says he will. After that he will never get anything he wants or his district needs, and, if lucky, he will wind up back in the state legislature.

Now it seems that here we have an interesting situation. Parliament cannot elect a Speaker because Ukrainian politics has become a game of who will double-cross whom first. They cannot make deals because nobody believes that their prospective partners will ever fulfill their side of the bargain. And without deals democracy simply cannot work. It may not be an ideal system, but a better one has yet to be thought up. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has become famous (infamous?) for its venality, but in order to do business, one needs a basis of trust. Perhaps Lviv’s businessmen, who have revived the Merchant’s Congregation founded in 1444 and dedicated to the proposition that a businessman’s word is his bond, could serve as a model for Ukraine’s lawmakers. Politics is, after all, also a sort of trade, and trust is important. Otherwise, nobody will support somebody today in anticipation of his support tomorrow. And without that the deals that make up the nuts and bolts of the democratic process cannot be made.

 

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