Читать книгу The State Franchise. Competitive Democracy - - Страница 6

The government consists of ministers and, in the case of this franchise, an unnecessary Prime Minister, since their role is now proposed to be fulfilled by the General Manager. The division of responsibility – and its resulting vagueness – between the head of state and the head of government weakens any such franchise.

If we look at how governments are formed even in the EU, the UK, and other so-called «progressive» countries, we can observe that after elections, parties begin dividing up ministerial portfolios, handing them out to their representatives who are often far from being the best specialists in the areas they are meant to oversee. This leads to increased crime, bloated bureaucracy, and many other negative consequences. In other countries, the selection of ministers is not much better. We can also see how easily ministers move from one ministry to another, as if this were perfectly normal – and no one seems to recognize the absurdity of the situation.

Fixing this flaw could become a major advantage of this franchise. When the winners of a long and competitive selection process – the best professionals in their respective fields – lead the relevant ministries with a prestigious salary, the country will inevitably gain an edge over those where ministers are appointed haphazardly.

Ministers are top managers and, accordingly, their compensation should follow a scheme similar to that of the General Manager. Believing that, with today’s ministerial salaries in most countries, journalists can prevent corruption through investigations alone is naïve. If that were true, major corporations would do the same and wouldn’t pay millions to their executives. But they don’t – they understand that saving on this is more costly in the long run. Society needs to grasp this as well.

Of course, an effective General Manager would reduce the number of ministries and staff to a minimum in order to cut expenses.

I’ll add only this: journalists undoubtedly contribute something, but the root of the problem lies elsewhere.