Pilot or Stewardess?

[pirate]

Ministers are not like pilots. The civil servants are the pilots. Ministers are like the :censored: airline executives on the ground telling the pilots how to fly their planes. And if the plane does kaboosh, he/she may lose his job, but at least he/she was not on the plane.


Some ministers may be qualified pilots, but the majority don't know how to fly a plane any more than the stewardess. Since when does a medical doctor know more about town planning than a town planner?

[limlim]

3Boys:

limlim:

Ministers are like pilots..


MPs are like stewardess.

We need highly skilled pple to be the pilot.. (You can have a few pilots distributed among the GRCs to ensure they get in).. Are ministers appointed or elected?

I don't need a pilot to serve my personal in-flight needs.. a stewardess is more preferred :evil: If necessary, she can convey my concerns to the pilot..

According to some school of thought, PE cannot elect someone who is too highflying. Too smart, too busy, cannot, must be of the laobaixing.

\"Cannot be\" high flying is a bit unreasonable lah..

I would say.. \"not necessarily\" high flying.. but the \"too busy\" part.. i tend to agree lor.... should not be \"too busy\" lah.. but if they somehow got extraordinary talent and can manage well.. why not? :evil:

[3Boys]

pirate:

Ministers are not like pilots. The civil servants are the pilots. Ministers are like the :censored: airline executives on the ground telling the pilots how to fly their planes. And if the plane does kaboosh, he/she may lose his job, but at least he/she was not on the plane.


Some ministers may be qualified pilots, but the majority don't know how to fly a plane any more than the stewardess. Since when does a medical doctor know more about town planning than a town planner?

You watched too much 'Yes Minister' on the BBC. (And if you haven't, I highly recommend it)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_Minister

You forget that although our system is Westminster in appearance, the actual execution is far different from how it is in the UK and other jurisdictions. Our ministers are far more into policy details than is typical for politicians elsewhere.

The ministers are MOST definitely the pilots in our context, quite often they outlast the perm secs even.

[limlim]

3Boys:

The ministers are MOST definitely the pilots in our context, quite often they outlast the perm secs even.

You've said it.. ministers.. Not MPs..

We don't need a cabinet all ministers and no \"purely\" MPs ya......? :evil:

[3Boys]

limlim:

3Boys:

The ministers are MOST definitely the pilots in our context, quite often they outlast the perm secs even.

You've said it.. ministers.. Not MPs..

We don't need a cabinet all ministers and no \"purely\" MPs ya......? :evil:

If Tharman Shanmugaratman were to have stood in PE against LLL, what chance would he have had? Minister of Finance, too busy to manage the ward, right?

[pirate]

3Boys:

You forget that although our system is Westminster in appearance, the actual execution is far different from how it is in the UK and other jurisdictions. Our ministers are far more into policy details than is typical for politicians elsewhere.


The ministers are MOST definitely the pilots in our context, quite often they outlast the perm secs even.

And where does the ground crew who make sure the planes do not fall out of the sky fit into your analogy? Whoever the pilots are, the ministers are definitely not on the plane.

[3Boys]

pirate:

3Boys:

You forget that although our system is Westminster in appearance, the actual execution is far different from how it is in the UK and other jurisdictions. Our ministers are far more into policy details than is typical for politicians elsewhere.


The ministers are MOST definitely the pilots in our context, quite often they outlast the perm secs even.

And where does the ground crew who make sure the planes do not fall out of the sky fit into your analogy? Whoever the pilots are, the ministers are definitely not on the plane.

See post on other thread.

And pray tell, why are they not on the plane?

[Irrelevant]

3Boys


I reckon that you'll have to temper your expectations of democracy.

Even in an above average forum like KSP, I would struggle to describe the average forumner as a discerning or critical thinking individual.

At the end of the day, democracy will always regress/degenerate into a wayang of pandering to the whims of the lowest common factor/multiple.

Last but not least, I would like to share some of my favourite quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville :

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

P.S. Yeah, I know I'm cynical.

[3Boys]

Irrelevant:

3Boys


I reckon that you'll have to temper your expectations of democracy.

Even in an above average forum like KSP, I would struggle to describe the average forumner as a discerning or critical thinking individual.

At the end of the day, democracy will always regress/degenerate into a wayang of pandering to the whims of the lowest common factor/multiple.

Last but not least, I would like to share some of my favourite quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville :

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

P.S. Yeah, I know I'm cynical.

Haha!

If I weren't an idealist, I would have stopped posting ages ago!

It's interesting that when one types TOC into the Google search field, theonlinecitizen pops up near the top, and Tocqueville comes into the mix a few pages down. But it's cyclical. Historically, small nation states like ours have a limited shelf life. I don't see Singapore escaping the clutches of gravity or mediocrity. We are, as a people, rather mediocre, it's only the leadership that sets us apart.

The people want ordinary people in parliament, crafting ordinary policies, to help the ordinary people. Nothing wrong with that, we'll have an ordinary leadership and be an ordinary country, with ordinary schools, ordinary workforce, ordinary healthcare, and ordinary salaries.

The level of political awareness and debate in Singapore, I feel, needs to mature. BUT, that too, is the PAP's fault (I mean it this time).

[Nebbermind]

I guess many of us just wanted to have stewardess who are truely concerned of the passengers’ welfare and well-being and who will occassionally go into the cockpit to check if the pilots have been dozing off too often.