STOP ROCKING THE BOAT

We live in age of political extremism. It's not necessarily a reflection of the tough issues of the day; there have been tougher times to be sure, and it's not just bad manners; politicians have probably always been street fighters at heart, despite their grinning photo-ops, and their groomed appearances to the contrary.

Today's noisy 24/7 media overload may be part of the problem inasmuch as bad news sells better than good; discouraging scandal entertains more than encouraging statistics, and misinformation on the internet has a life of its own.

But there is something about the uncompromising vitriol of the current age, perhaps magnified by the paradigm shift in digital communication, that is ripping the social fabric to shreds and threatening the health, safety and resilience of entire nations as a whole.

The worst thing about the morass of politics today is the myopia of spoiler politics; if one side fails to get its way, it responds to no higher calling than to ruin it for the other side. It's like two people fighting to get on a raft, each pulling the other off, willing to risk drowning rather than cooperate with a rival.

US Senator from Indiana, Evan Bayh, recently announced he will step down next year rather than seek another term, given the unpleasant, polarised environment the US Congress has become. He poignantly laments not being able to be friends with Republicans, to dine together, socialise together and work out compromises with the other half of Congress, as was normal operating procedure in the good old days when his father, Birch Bayh, was senator.

Thailand, like America, is currently going through a rough patch in its national politics, in which rude trumps polite, violence is seen as a viable option and might makes right. The national dialogue has declined to the point where communication and compromise are almost impossible.

Unlike America - which has been "muddling through" for over two centuries with a system of government affectionately known as the "worst" system of governance except for all the other systems which are even worse - Thailand is a post-1932 democracy with a predilection to coups, vulnerable to both chaos and strongman politics.

The Thai media is full of talk of overthrowing the government and blood in the streets. There are whispers of coups and counter-coups and coups to provoke coups. Bombs and grenades go off, innocent lives are threatened, the business climate declines. Where is it going? Where will it end?

Though violence has not been part of the equation, the sorry state of the US Congress and the mean machinations of US politicians are likewise cause for concern; when the US screws up big, whether it be the economy or military adventures, the world trembles.

Despite the relatively minor policy differences between the two mainstream parties, Republicans and Democrats now slug it out in public for all to see, as if politics were entertainment, a contact sport.

Each side is always looking to score a point and, failing that, at least inflict a foul on the other guy.

In Thailand, as in the United States, political squabbles - which, properly understood, are power games among the elite - have become conflated with cultural wars.

Thaksin Shinawatra is said to have a huge upcountry following but is hated in Bangkok.

Yellow shirt leader Sondhi Limthongkul has a solid support base in Bangkok but not in rural areas.

The polarised social worlds these two men have come to symbolise is not so much an impassable social divide as it is a manufactured split, born of political posturing and populist agit-prop.

Both men have changed their positions many times. Both men are members of the wealthy elite, both are well-connected and so fundamentally similar in outlook that not too long ago they were political allies and business confidantes.

Those "halcyon" days hark back not to a less divisive age; one need only invoke the memory of Black May 1992 to be reminded of that, but things were divided up in such a way that put them on the same side of the fence.

Tragically, an even earlier generation of activists, the so-called October generation, who in the height of their youthful idealism were willing to risk life itself in order to refute and reform, if not revolutionise, the corrupt body politic, are now split almost evenly, and thus rendered impotent as a unique generational force, by the shifting tides of allegiance along the red shirt/yellow shirt divide.

Red and yellow street actions may bear a physical resemblance to revolutions past, what with the headbands and megaphone speeches and folk songs and daredevil defiance, but today's street theatre makes a mockery of the genuinely democratic sacrifices of Oct 14, 1973 and Oct 6, 1976.

Nowadays, self-promoters hijack the paraphernalia and street tactics of the people's struggle in service of elite establishment types and militant tycoons.

Don't the old comrades care anything about the ordinary people any more? Can't people with different views talk anymore?

PM Abhisit Vejjajiva shares with Thaksin and Mr Sondhi a background of wealth, hi-so status and a Western education; but he stands apart from his two elders, not so much in class status as in temperament. It would appear he lacks the unbridled ego, the blinding ambition, the instinct for the jugular and the Machiavellian talent for getting things done by hook or by crook.

Indeed , Mr Abhisit is not unlike Barack Obama in that both men share a rare unflappability. Both men possess first-rate temperaments that allow them to remain remarkably calm and even-keeled at a time when everyone is rocking the boat.

This deep-plumbed geniality does not suffice to successfully steer the ship of state in a good direction - both men have disappointed their followers in droves because of their amiable inaction - but at least they may prevent it from capsizing until other talents can be brought on board.

Indeed, keeping the peace so that the centre may hold is so critical to the equitable functioning of society, and so important to the interests of ordinary citizens, who have no desire to become collateral damage in someone else's war, who just want to earn a living and enjoy their free time and get on with their lives, that having a leader who is polite, thoughtful, reflective and just plain riap roi trumps political genius.

BY PHILIP J CUNNINGHAM

(published in the Bangkok Post, February 23, 2010)