Ranil Can Try His Luck Later, Six Months Later
By Kumar David -June 9, 2013
Prof Kumar David
UNP Returns To Liberal-Democracy: More Than A Whiff Of Donoughmore
In political science, keep the mind razor sharp and tongue as piercing as a dagger; no quarter should be yielded to blunderers; the world is infested with too many mutts. The art of politics, on the other hand, is the craft of getting as much as can be realistically extracted in a given conjuncture. The objective of principled politics is to permit only morally flawed compromises that are unavoidable.
Was this last the psychology of the drafters who put together the constitutional proposals unveiled by the UNP on 29 May? I am no UNPer, I look from the outside as a Leftist, but this seems how they set about it. A second caveat: I am speaking of the written document, a future UNP government may well betray stacks of promises, as Mahinda, Chandrika,Premadasa, even JR did with no inkling of their own moral ignominy. Lanka is fatigued and demoralised by the foulest crop of politicos in its history. Their forerunners of the first three post-Independence decades had many failings, but were not dishonourable scoundrels. But these days,
‘Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now (politicos) drink blood”
