At the age of 20 the child would undergo a test which would be practical as well as theoretical. This would filter out the first lot of individuals who are not cut out for higher learning. They who pass out from this would be put through an additional 10 years of study. Those who fail would play their role in the economic development of the nation. They would find their calling in fields such as commerce, entrepreneurship, clerks, farmers and (more contemporarily) jobs pertaining to the salaried worker of today such as clerks, BPO associates, etc .. (today's MBA's would swoon upon reading this!!)
At the age of 30 a second exam would be conducted and this time those who pass would be set aside for the last lap of learning. The filtered souls would hereby be enrolled in the government in service of the nation. They would serve in areas such as defense, the navy, etc ... This is truely a far cry from the world of today where many (not all) enlist in the miliatary as a means to make a living where none seems possible.
The cream that survives these 3 decades of learning will then be set aside for the study of philosophy for the last 5 years. At the end of this they would be cast headlong with no mercies whatsoever into the real world. Here for 15 long years they would work alongside their countrymen in the economy, and even toil with their comrades in the army. At the ripe age of 50, after having walked with all manner of men and putting their higher learning ideas to the test, they would be ready to govern the nation.
Well thats putting utopia it in a nutshell !!
How well would 2 of today's leaders fare in this system?
Lets start with Uncle Sam. The incumbent President Barack Obama, would have passed all three rounds with flying colours. If one were to study his history, one would truely admire the guy for the challenges he has surmounted in order to get to the whitehouse. He is surely no stranger to the harshness of life. Apart from teaching in Harvard, he also worked in community centers over the years and as far as education is concerned, he did after all graduate from Harvard Law School.
Obama's legacy, one may argue is still being written, but an immediate snapshot of the battlefield shows a picture full of woes. With much fanfare he arrived, and with a harsher knock on the elbow his party received a drubbing in the mid-term elections. No doubt he came in on the wane and has restored some amount of sanity to the nation but with unemployment nearly touching double digits, his work is far from over.
Obama, like most philosophers clearly has his own ideology. The problem here is like most philosophers, one tends to cling on to their pet theories in pretty much the same manner that damp clothes cling on to the body of a drenched pedestrian. His stubborness with pushing through the healthcare bill in congress at a time when he should have been working with the opposition to boost the economy is a case in point. In fact, to corroborate this, Obama has even gone on record stating that he is willing to become a one term president on this.
Secondly, Obama has indeed had field experience, but not really the type that gives you a 360 degree view. His 180 degree view on a plethora of important issues has resulted in him virtually offering himself up as the whipping boy of the Republican right. Consider this: There are no leading executives from America's Premier Corporations (Otherwise known as "Big Business") on his cabinet, not even as advisors. He came down heavily on CEO over-compensation (which the hardworking laid-off middle class and union workers secretly approve of more than they would choose to publicly admit) with the Frank-Dodd Bill and introduced legislation to bring the shadow banking industry into the fold of regulation.
Obama's cabinet is packed with theorists. In fact it is sometimes felt that even the presence of a few business icons on board may have indirectly conveyed corporate America's seal on his reforms. Needless to say, the opposition have latched onto this vacuum and have painted him as anti-business (see poll taken). His experience in law school and the community service he did, didnt really make up for his absence of training in the corporate world. Master Yoda from Star Wars would have likened the same to a Jedi who has abandoned his Training midway to engage with a Dark Lord.
Back home in India, the incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the next leader we turn our attention too. To start with, his titles and academic achievements could fill up an entire page.
Here is a man who went entirely from the annals of academia into Government. It almost seemed that he was destined for the top job. He began with a stint with UNITAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), and was consequently elevated to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. This was followed-up by a slew of other prestigious posts such as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and not to forget his crucial role as the Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao cabinet of 1991 who liberalised India's economy.
He may have not been tested with the riguors of the maketplace but his training did indeed hold him in good stead when India needed an expert at its helm to open up the economy. His tactful art of diplomacy has benefitted India on many fronts. For the sake of the nation, he put his party's political alliance and his future on the line to seal the historic Nuclear Deal.
However, his inability to be decisive when it matters has recently dented much of his reputation in the eyes of the public. With every new scandal that rocks the nation, more people have begun to view him as limp-fisted and unable to crack the whip when required. His pandering to the congress party bloodline has not helped his image either. He now leads a government that appears to be pulling itself equally in different directions between an white-haired environmental saviour minister and a few ministers who want the country Industrialized at breakneck speed.
When the 3 Big scandals of the year broke out recently:- (The 2G Scandal, The Commonwealth Games Scandal and the Mumbai Adarsh Housing Scandal), he seemed completely clueless as to how to handle them. In almost all cases he got into the game late only to promise a speedy investigation. This somewhat limited hands-on/hands-off approach has led to the oppositions continued frustration which eventually caused the parliament shutdown.
Unlike Obama however, Manmohans job is relatively easier. He heads a booming economy and doesnt need to worry about unemployment, but he needs to be more decisive, even if it may mean taking a strong stand in the party that may not seem accomodating, a leaf he can possibly take from "Obama the Philosopher's" cap.
Obama on the other hand could learn the art of "Respecting the Opposition" from the Indian Prime Minister. Manmohan has been the PM for close to 6 years now and still has a relatively clean image. He even recently compared himself with Caesars wife (to be above suspicion). The opposition have found it a tough job to make personal attacks on him prior to these recent scandals. Manmohan uses the "Silence" technique rather effectively. He allows critiques to go on ranting about him while he takes the high ground out. It has paid.
While these 2 emperors of the 2 biggest democracies in the world continue to find their paths in the labyrinth of 21st century politics, its amazing to see how some of the traits described centuries ago by a greek philosopher still hold good.
Today, Greece's economy is in shambles. They have gone with their begging bowls to the IMF. Unrest is on the rise in the streets even as the government implements harsh austerity programs meant to reduce their debt.
Plato's famous statue in Athens sits still amidst all this unrest, wisdom has truely abandoned its nest.
