Massive Anti-Government Protests

.

The ideas of Thomas Jefferson and John Locke being invoked by Bangkok protesters?  (See LINK)

.

I am continually astonished at the extent to which the Bangkok middle classes (and students) loathe Thaksin Shinawatra (while the rural majorities love him for his populist policies and giveaways to them, policies that are usually financially disastrous and corruptly administered).  He, and the parties he controls, has dominated (opponents say, “bought”) contemporary elections, even after he fled the country as a fugitive to avoid a two-year jail sentence after conviction for blatant corruption and abuse of power. 

.

His sister Yingluck Shinawatra became Prime Minister after a landslide victory in the election of 2011, but the opposition objects to her government and to the “entire Thaksin regime,” calling her a “puppet” of his as he dictates from abroad.  They rage against the pro-Thaksin government’s assaults on the Rule of Law. 

.

The Thaksinistas have the most votes, but the moral high ground seems to belong to their opposition.  At least one anti-Thaksin intellectual has invoked Jefferson’s warning against a possible “elective despotism” that is democratically elected but thoroughly unjust and unrestrained in its use of power.  (I might add James Madison’s similar warning in The Federalist Papers that there must be strong constitutional restraints on government lest there be any “tyranny of the majority.”) 

.

And I am especially astonished at the massive anti-Thaksin rallies today.  I expected the opposition rallies to fade away, but perhaps 200,000 or more Thais filled the streets of Bangkok today, paralyzing all traffic and marching to Government House from all directions.  As they marched there, PM Yingluck announced the dissolution of the House of Representatives and a new snap election on 2 February.  But this does not satisfy most protesters, mainly because the pro-Thaksin faction led by his sister and the Pheu Thai party will certainly win power again, thus the paradox in politics here. 

.

At 06:30 today we were suddenly shaken by a very LOUD loudspeaker on the street below us at the entrance to EGAT.  By 09:00 a group of about 200 – mostly EGAT workers – were forming a parade order below us, intending to march to join other protesters elsewhere.  I got to look at them closely via binoculars from above, and they looked like cheerful, decent middle-class folks, many of them surprisingly young.  This is a distinct difference from my personal observation of the pro-Thaksin Red Shirts as I walked through their encampment on 9 April 2010, the day before the violence started.  (See blog post, below, on that date.)  By comparison, the Reds looked like thugs. 

.

I created a Twitter account recently to get up-to-date news on protester activity and traffic reports.  Social media have had a tremendous role in mobilizing people and getting the latest news out. 

.

Thailand lacks a solid constitution that is dedicated to limiting political power (as do most other constitutions throughout the world, while the USA was lucky to get it partially right in the early days).  When there is a lot of power to be grabbed – democratically if you have numbers behind you – you will be tempted to use that power to make laws and regulations to benefit you and yours financially; and then you can also “buy” more votes with populist policies that will give you (read: Thaksin) a continued democratic majority while ruining the nation’s finances; also power to ban peaceful behavior that you don’t like; etc.

.

Friedrich Hayek nailed this hazard of when too much power is constitutionally available.  In his chapter, “Why the Worst Get on Top,” in his 1944 The Road to Serfdom, he was answering the question of why supposedly “civilized” Europe was at that time rife with “gangster states,” i.e., Germany, Italy, and the USSR.  His answer:  loose constitutions allow immense political power to be had, and the most ruthless wolves will win the power game.  Ah!  I need to read more Hayek again for that wonderfully sane perspective. 

.

How it will end here?  I don’t know, but I am encouraged to see some of the protesters and intellectuals invoke the very core libertarian insights of Jefferson and Locke.  They had provided the world-classic arguments for rebellion against unjust lawmakers. 

.

-Zenwind. 

.