Skip to main content

Ponderings of A Proclaimed Mugwump-Need for Positive Politics

Mugwump- is a term which stands out because of its peculiar sound, if you do not know the meaning, and stands out for the liberating meaning, if you understand the meaning of it. I came across this term while reading the The Autobiography of Mark Twain , wherein he wanted to petition the government and hesitated on account of being a Mugwump.
 
The term finds first usage in the English of Eighteenth Century and refers to one who is free of political inclination and derives its origin from the reference made to the Republican who refused to support his own party nominee in 1884, US elections, James Blaine. By the team, Mark Twain used it in his autobiography, it referred to someone independent of political leanings.
 
The term is confusing in pronunciation and meaning, though in today's time of political turmoil and quicksand ideology, to be a mugwump seems to be only reasonable political affiliation. Which party would you stand with when you do not know what ideology they stand for. The party in power resembles so much those out of it, that it is only minor difference in the level of arrogance which differentiates.
 
In times of turmoil, it is always better to build your own cocoon and stay in that, with a hope that some day the grey will melt into black and white on the either side and you will know which side to stand on. These are times of shifting loyalties and unclear convictions. To be stupid is alleviating and to be intellectual is a recipe for mental trauma. The world around us has lost balance, and its no wonder we don't know which way to head.
 
We are brought up to believe in a world in which the right and wrong, the just and the unjust, co-exist and the world stabilizes and prospers in the middle of these forces and counter-forces, which strike an equilibrium. The citizen today is at loss because there is no positive to counter-balance the negatives any longer. The negatives are responded to with negatives. The riots at the behest of one side of the political world, is responded by belligerent posturing by the other side. One man's inflation is other man's theatre.
 
How many times do we find, opposition parties travel to riot hit areas and set up camps to ensure restoration and rehabilitation? Inflation hits the poor, and the food on the plate goes scarce, but then on the street we find the theatre of absurd, with opposition leaders dancing with garland of tomatoes, highlighting scarce vegetables. Citizen is at loss, unable to understand who is being mocked, the party in power or the poverty of people. Are they blind to understand that the world needs balance and negative can not be countered with negative? When will we find them setting up food camps, emptying their ill-gotten election funds, thus creating a force of positive.
 
The light has to come in to fight darkness, you can not counter dark with more dark or funny dark. The world seeks the light and the political class is failing it. Violence needs to be answered with sanity and huger with prosperity. It is a difficult task, but is only hope that we as a nation have. Till then, I proudly continue to be a mugwump and the disease is spreading. You can not shame people into participating in the political process, you need to give them hope that things can change. We need to grow from the politics of protest to the politics of persuasion and progress.
 
I, being a mugwump, do not usually write on politics, not that anybody cares, but sometimes it gets too much and has to come out. Writing about desperate situations do not make them better, but it gives a moral satisfaction of blurting out my mind, with a hope that may be someone will listen. Your views??
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Teaching Kids Read Early Makes Sense?

Picture Courtesy- GettyImages I am an only child, though not a child anymore. My childhood went in search of friendships outside the home, and waiting for the evening to come by to immerse into those rare moments of camaraderie. Our days, the Pre-Appu childhood, was largely supervised by our parents. I do not much remember visiting my friend’s place in childhood. Much unlike my daughter and her friends who keep meeting up in their homes. My friends were kids of my father’s colleagues and we met when they met. Friendships were formed and finished in the children park.  The interspersed period of loneliness was filled up by books. It was from Comics to pocket-books to Geeta Press to even, Indian Classics like Ramayana and Mahabharata . They filled up my days of solitude with rare happiness. I was called introvert and adults left me alone. It was an arrangement which we both liked. There was no other arrangement in the view. For some reasons, parents those days did not appr...
2 comments
Read more

पुस्तक समीक्षा - मैं मुन्ना हूँ - लेखक - मनीष श्रीवास्तव

  जिस प्रकार वनस्पति घी डालडा होता है , जैसे प्रतिलिपि ज़ेरॉक्स होती है , मनीष श्रीवास्तव जी श्रीमान जी होते हैं। कम लोगों को पाठकों का इतना स्नेह प्राप्त होता है , जो उनके कृतित्व एवं लेखन से आगे निकल जाता है। इसका कारण उनके लेखन में   सत्य का प्रतिबिम्ब परिलक्षित होना होता है जो पाठक ने उनके व्यक्तित्व में देखा सुना हो। लेखन मेरी दृष्टि में वह माध्यम होता है जिसके द्वारा अपने सत्य को वह कपोल कल्पना का आवरण पहना कर सार्वजनिक कर देता है और आत्मा को एक पिशाच के बोझ से मुक्त कर पाता है। कलम के माध्यम से लेखक वह कहने का साहस जुटा पाता है जिसे अन्यथा वह संभवतः न कह पाए।जब कोई कृति यह कर पाती है तो वह न केवल लेखक की आत्मा के पिशाच हटाती है वरन पाठक की आत्मा के धागों पर लगी गिरहें भी खोल देती है और उसके मानस को मुक्त कर देती है।   इस दृष्टि से मनीष की यह पुस्तक " मैं मुन्ना हूँ " अपने दायित्व का पूर्णता से निर्वाह करती ...
Post a Comment
Read more

On the Eve of Formation of New Government

The long dance-duel of democracy has finally ended. The rulers and wanting-to-be-rulers have now decided to rest after a no-holds-barred battle is over. The unapologetic political parties and apologetic, righteous neutral commentators, jumping in and out of the discourse. In fact, the case for the commentators was the most curious, under the thinly wrapped veneer of neutrality and forward-thinking lurked the opportunity to shoot and scoot.   This was a campaign which made people see through the charade of intellectual bourgeoisie, who pretended to be neutral but treaded the thin line between the public and private. Thankfully, the campaign ended and hopefully we are left with few things still left to believe in.   Narendra Modi has a task cut out for him. Swearing-in happens tomorrow evening. My view he has things to do, new paths to tread.   He has invited the SAARC countries, all of them to attend. That to me is a good be...
Post a Comment
Read more