Candidates in the upcoming presidential election and their campaign headquarters seem to believe that public opinion this time around is focused on power and the authority to use it.
Not surprisingly, every presidential hopeful, depending on his line of thought, has regularly pontificated about his credentials to exercise
power one way or the other.
This is while public opinion is less aware and ill-informed about their plans of action due to the lack of open debates in which the contestants make their case and openly challenge the differing views and visions.
There exists a thinking in our society that holds that public opinion is largely a product of the mass media. Those who subscribe to this school maintain that by injecting one clichŽ into the society, public opinion can be molded. There also is a ’feeling’ that by suppressing, if necessary eliminating, the print media, and empowering radio and television, ’inconvenient’ views can be taken care of and filtered!
But this approach indeed makes the task of cultivating public opinion all the more tedious. Under the circumstances, a rather deficient line of thought emerges, which on the one hand does not trust clichŽ types of mass media, and on the other does not exactly know its own wishes and demands, and identifies them in a haphazard manner.
In the absence of a premise for shaping public opinion in a logical manner, immature or uninformed views are formed. These normally come in the form of small talk like between a taxi driver and his passengers, or family polemics none of which produce results.
However, the bitter fact is that these same views and unintellectual theories tend to become reference points for decision-making and publicity campaigns.
If the basic demand of the people is that a president must be strong and powerful, then what conclusion can be derived? In the past eight years, the majority of our people have supported the polices and direction of the government.
Opinion polls still suggest President Mohammad Khatami is a very popular and respected man and will be remembered likewise by our future generations.
Intellectuals, the elite, masses and students on several occasions have urged his government to be strong, assert itself and insist on exercising its legitimate power without fear or intimidation.
It is natural that exercise of power is the means and not an end in itself, and admittedly much different from tyranny and oppression.
In short, the people who believe in the rule of law and good governance, want their government to have clear lines of authority to be able to deliver and implement its policies and programs without hindrances or appeasing to the powerful interest groups.
So far, the belief in empowering the citizen could not challenge the theory advocating the power of the government. This is because in many developing countries, including Iran, citizenship is a right bestowed upon the people from top, or rather a right ’given’ to the public by the state.
Perhaps the time has come to revise such concepts and definitions so that citizens can influence the government on the basis of their power and demand accountability and responsibility if and when they deem necessary.
By the same token, citizens as the taxpayer should always have the final word on key issues, and the support of responsible law enforcement and security systems.
The indisputable fact is that in functioning democracies different notions, principles and rights and duties are intertwined. Any attempt to separate these can entail negative affects on the entirety of the democratic process.
Informed public opinion, a free and independent press, people’s effective participation in political and economic life, and the need for powerful and law-abiding citizens are among these inseparable concepts.