Reflections

Mulling over the last election and the aftermath since, especially in light of the return of partisanship in Thailand, I am moved to try and give an account of both sides and their sentiments.

For the Democrats their feelings are much clearer to me and they revolve around the word entitlement. Not entitlement in the sense of thinking they have the right to rule merely because of the position of their birth but a different kind of entitlement. To many of the Democrats and their supporters, the traditional thinking seems to be that they come ‘from better stock’ than their Peu Thai counterpart, they have attended the finest schools inside and outside of the nation. Their rhetoric, diction, verbosity, ability has been judged by their academic peers at the highest of recognized institutions worldwide. If you are a supporter of the Democrat Party you know that you are civilized, you and your leaders have the degrees that say so. You have clinked tea cups inside the hallowed halls of Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge with other would be world leaders. Your intelligence and merit (or at least those of the people you believe in) have been proven to be world class. What more, you assert (rightfully or wrongfully) that you have divine mandate because you clearly support the institution of the Monarch, something the opposition views in contempt*, something they want to destroy. But for all your superior education, the righteousness of your cause and the wealth at your disposal your methods have proven incapable of bringing results. Election after election you lose to a party and a people you view as uneducated, despotic, treasonous and anti establishment. A people that you have very little emotional, empathetic connection to. They live a lifestyle that is absolutely feudal, how then can they win a game that you have spent your life studying, how can they understand concepts of democracy and economy developed by Smith and Locke and Rousseau? They have more in common with the buffalos they herd and tend than those pillars of ‘democracy.’ Bitterness grows, despite coups and extra-judicial entitlements you cannot hold on to an electorate despite the weakest of oppositions. SO when the flood comes you criticize, you verbalize your displeasure, your supporters do the same, to them (and yourself)  it was only natural that these people without righteousness of morality and education of any disposition would bring about destruction to the country. But for all your negativity and criticisms, it still won’t win you any elections.

Now for Peu Thai.

You are the have nots, the people that were born without nothing. All that you have done to get you into power was done in the generation of your fathers or yourself. You swapped Harvard refinement with Eastern Kentucky homeliness. Education to you wasn’t as important as building networks of close friends and family members who would stay truly loyal, with the ultimate goal being the advancement of your individual passions. You give the people what they want, as long as its something that you do not desire. But when the coup came, you became disenfranchised, you screamed unfair, irregular, taking up the mantles of Democracy and liberty and rights. The monarchy was never your concern, you paid lip service, but when they came hunting you for anti monarchy charges and it united you further, you exploited it, used it to your advantage. You successfully exploited the growing intellectual class, gave self awareness to the peasantry in the bid that you might one day take up power again. Those have-alls, those well-to-bes, they don’t represent the will of the people, you do! You will use your billions to help them you promise, you will come back if their blood is shed you say. So you win the election, and become complacent, you ll give the people some of your promises, they helped you get there, but victory has made you arrogant. People start to wonder if the cries in favor of liberty and rights was just a pantomime in this varied game of thrones for you abandoned them when liberty and rights might threaten your hold on power. Then the flood comes, you’re unprepared, your victory seems hallow, you’ll win the next election, but how much will your complacency cost you? Besides the dead’s bloods is still on your hand.

Conclusion:

Perhaps what the Democrats fail to see is their constant evocation of the monarchy has done more to tarnish that precious institution than anything the red shirts and Peu Thai ever did. By becoming more militant those ardent defenders turned neutrals into critics. For all their intellectual and liberal background the Democrats are still shackled by their patronage networks which they sit at the bottom of.

As for Peu Thai, their inept handling of everything has damaged the goodwill of their election. Even before the flood their neglect of the promises of which they stand for has threatened to alienate the intellectual core of their voters.  And like the Democrats, PT are also shackled by their extended network of patronage of which they sit at the top.