How many of us praise and applaud the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) machine every time you make a successful cash withdrawal, or for that matter any task that the ATM completes in just a few minutes if not seconds. Sound weird, right? Now let’s rewind a bit. Most tasks the ATM does, is completed with speed, which otherwise would take quite a bit of time after visiting the bank branch and yet we seem to have taken the ATM machine for granted, no applause no nothing. Agreed with India’s digital push, even ATMs might become less important, but they are not going away as long as cash circulation keeps growing.
However, the most important point here is that we expect the ATM to do its job by default and only notice their inefficiencies when the machine runs out of cash or encounters a technical error. So why is it so difficult to apply the same logic in other domains?
Some of you might argue that ATM is just a machine and therefore does not deserve praises every time it does its job. Okay, let ‘s remove the mechanical equation out of this argument. Why don’t we praise the human bank cashier at the branch for allowing us physical withdrawal of our cash? We should be treating the cashier with tremendous reverence because s/he does a big favour by giving us our money back. Okay hold that thought, did we say the cashier gives us our own money, hence there is no need to be so grateful. A best a courteous ‘thank you’ should be good enough.
If we can understand the duty of an ATM machine or a bank cashier so clearly, then why do we go gaga and keep praising politicians for every task they complete? Why is it so hard to understand this simple fact? Is it not their duty to complete each and every assignment they are elected for? How are politicians different from an ATM machine or a bank cashier? Some might argue cashier gives us our own money that is deposited in the bank, while politicians use tax money collected from other people, not necessarily our own, hence we need to butter them to get our work done.
One reason this writer kept writing on this newspaper was to educate Goans that everybody pays tax, even though many don’t pay income tax and therefore think they are not contributing to the government kitty. Initially it was difficult to explain because we had so many taxes masked and packaged subtly by the government. Then came the not so subtle GST and it became easy for people to recognize that there is a tax collected on everything we purchase. Although the generation next have understood the concept well, it is still difficult to change the rigid mindset of the ‘generation past‘. Politicians therefore have taken advantage of the situation and have bolstered their image to such unimaginable heights that citizens are ready to ‘bajao thali‘ on even a small and mundane task a politician does. Such deep rooted is our obsequious behaviour that politicians have made people take pride on their personal achievements, promotion or awards. They even negotiate to become ministers, telling their party higher ups that making them ministers is a matter of pride to their constituents. Weird, isn’t it?
So why is there so much allegiance towards a particular politician? Are you a fan? One can understand teenagers falling for fan following, but they usually fall for rock stars, sports stars, film stars and politician will be the last thing on their mind. Do you get carried away with great oratory skills or politician’s sweet talk or promises which they then conveniently forget them because you don’t have the capacity to remind them of their pledge? Do you want personal favours from a politician so that tax collected from every citizen is diverted for your personal use, or change the rules of the game midway so that you make a windfall financial gain? What’s your excuse for such adherence? One can understand illiterate people taking the bait, but for literate persons with professional degrees making a beeline towards politicians is such an insult to the education they have received.
Coming back to the ATM, imagine you withdraw the money and the ATM yells at you for splurging and lectures you on excess withdrawals. Okay, no bank would like their ATM to interfere in their customers spending habits and invite flak, but will you accept the same from the human cashier telling you on how to use your money. Yet, we have given politicians the free hand to lecture us how our money should be spent, what should be the tax rate and pay no attention on how the government spends our tax money, which is actually the duty of each and every citizen. The situation has got so bad that we even applaud the government for giving big ticket orders to foreign countries. Not only that, we also take some sort of pride that our politicians are treated with great respect in a foreign country little knowing that all these expenses are going to be included in our purchase bill. When was the last time you applauded and felt proud of your spouse on spending huge money on shopping?
While you can pull up your spouse for over spending, complain to the bank manager that the cashier is too nosey and hence a nuisance because you want to take control of your personal finance and yet give politicians the right to spend our tax money as they wish, allow them to mishandle the economy thereby messing up our savings and still sing praises only because you are in complete awe of the political class. Praising politicians for doing their work for which they get paid in cash and perks, is equivalent to praising an ATM machine or cashier for giving out your own cash. Let’s get that straight.
(The author is a business consultant)