The Ruling Party Dilemma


Unemployment is arguably the biggest, and, the most widespread, of our innumerable social ills. To the extend that a ruling party’s effectiveness is almost always primarily judged by the number of jobs that it was able to “create.”

Be that as it may, there seems to be an unseen dilemma that ruling parties face. A dilemma not apparent to the party, and, the people that the party was hired to please.

Here’s the dilemma: with almost every single social ill that is eliminated; unemployment will be augmented.

Let’s take crime, as an example. If the government gets rid of all forms of crime: every single police officer, prison warder, prison cook, et al., will be unemployed.

And, as “disturbing” as that might sound, that is not where it will end.

While that might not lead to those who manufacturer police uniform, those who clean prisons, those who supply prisons with toilet paper, and the like, being unemployed. They will sure see a steep decrease of revenue. A decrease that will inevitably lead to owners of such businesses having to “release” an employee, or, twelve.

So, technically, the ruling party needs crime. Not only for them to justify the budget that they have allocated to the police department (or, having the police, for that matter). But to also lower the number of the country’s unemployed beings.

In a country of three (excluding its government): All three are unemployed. Person X is hired as a police officer. Now, that’s one less person taken out of the country’s list of the unemployed. Person Y commits a crime. And, because of Person Y’s having committed a crime, Person X now looks like a necessity. Person Y is then prisoned. That country now has only one unemployed person, Person Z.

However, Person Z too will benefit, in terms of being employed, from Person Y’s having committed a crime. For there then would be a need for a prisoner warder.

When a country no longer has crime, all those who are employed by the police system will be unemployed. Which will obviously lead to a steep increase of that country’s unemployment rate.

But also, no crime means no prisoners, too. Which then means that every single prisoner will add to that country’s list of the unemployed; after they are freed.

One social ill solved (crime); one social ill worsened (unemployment).

(So, basically, the ruling party’s failure is its success, and, its success is its failure.)




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— October 25, 2011.