The baffling relationship between State and The People

The relationship between the peoples and the governments voted by them is intriguing and baffling to me.

The peoples form governments in order to help them run the countries efficiently. Ordinary folks are busy with making ends meet and building families. Government officials, meanwhile, dedicate their business hours to making policies and putting national resources to work efficiently. At the core, governments are supposed to work for the citizens and the citizens’ best interest.

The reality; however, is starkly different. Take the protest in Hong Kong as an example. The people have voiced their opinion loudly and unambiguously. They want independence and autonomy from China. Yet, all the Hong Kong’s government has done so far seems to go in the opposite direction of what the people demand. Worse, they violently tried to subdue the protest and hurt the citizens whom they are supposed to protect and serve.

Hong Kong is not the only case. Citizens give government officials and police power. Yet, the power is then used to harm the citizens and there is no mechanism at the moment in countries to timely take away the power from those who misuse it. By the time a new election comes, it will be too late. Yet, politicians need time in the office to see through policies. It’s impractical and impossible to set a policy and expect it to work after one month or three.

I do believe there is a place for centralization. Otherwise, it would have been there for the last thousands of years. Yet, we haven’t mastered the art of giving and taking away power timely and properly.