BARACK TO THE FUTURE II

WINSTON CHURCHILL MAY HAVE had a point when he stated “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”, (although in my opinion he might have added “and wearing military uniform”), but I would perhaps have something similar to state about our former colonial cousins the United States of America. The decision to elect Barack Hussein Obama for a second term reminds me of an example given to me many years ago by a Latin teacher of mine.

 

HAVING BEEN A DOCTOR in the British Army, which was why, I presume, he knew Latin, he presented us with an interesting analogy on the US presidential elections, usually a two-way contest. Imagine, he suggested, a group of one hundred people. About seventy of them are permanently falling ill, or are chronically ill, or were born ill. These people tend to ignore the advice of their doctor (when they bother to consult a doctor) and regularly indulge in behaviour that leads to their conditions getting worse, or at least not better.

 

THE SECOND GROUP is made of super-fit, active and energetic people, of around thirty in number. They live a healthy lifestyle, avoid the things that may be damaging to their health, and are generally prepared for anything that comes at them. When they come down with something, which everyone may do, they have it under control in hours.

 

FOR SOME REASON NEVER EXPLAINED TO ME by my Latin teacher (although I have vague memories of him talking about some ancient medical system in use in Japan), the people in this community have to elect a doctor.

 

COME ELECTION TIME THERE ARE TWO candidates, both promising to “bring good health to everyone”. One of the candidates is from the “sick” group and the other is from the healthy group. The result of the election is that the “chronically sick” doctor wins by a majority of one.

 

MY TEACHER NEVER WENT on to explain the future of the health of those involved under the sick doctor; he merely left it up to us to imagine. One of the things we would have to consider, I suppose, was the number of healthy people who voted for a sick doctor. And this brings me to another famous quotation by Winston Churchill: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”