I am the people

We earnestly seek a parliamentary life that we describe as ‘democracy’. We even brag in front of others that we practice elections and that the Kuwaiti people select its legislatives to monitor the performance of the executives. We have been racing to ballots ever since independence. We have been always applauding the constitution. Our hearts almost broke when our parliament was suspended for a while. Our faces looked dark, hearts were heavy, tears were shed and many people wailed as if the country had been stricken by a devastating earthquake.

The funny thing that really calls for more thought is that despite our obsession with parliamentary life, we no longer accept election results. As soon as ballots are counted, one would start hearing loud objections expressing dissatisfaction. We also start wailing across the country if the parliament gets down to work, as if we elect lawmakers to be indignant with them and curse them.

We give candidates our votes to make them win, then start sharpening our knives to slaughter them in a most peculiar parliamentary experiment. We cry over the absence of the parliament and cry when it is in office, just like a child who cries to get a doll and once he does, he breaks it and then starts crying for destroying it!

It is a fantasy that even the best sociopolitical scientists cannot explain, because the people believe that democracy is the ‘rule of the people’. But our people get angry if the people rule. It is a puzzle-like maze. It would be understood people feeling dissatisfied with a government they had not chosen and that was imposed on them. However, it is incomprehensible how people get angry at a parliament they had elected and taken the trouble to go to ballots in a most surrealistic scene that can only be explained by the assumption that each citizen deeply thinks that he or she alone is the people!

Despite our obsession with parliamentary life, we no longer accept election results