Some political thoughts occasioned by Presidential Election Sunday

What kind of society do we wish to live in? Most voters would want to see one occupying the middle ground between the following two extremes. The Troughs-For-You Party distributes wealth so that everyone is equal (except those that do the distributing, who are more equal than most). It's rival, the I'm-All-Right-Jack Party, deems that the poor are essentially idle losers, and lets the rich hang onto to all their wealth - and devil take the hindmost.

We thankfully live in a democracy, where some kind of equilibrium between these two extremes is the usual outcome of elections. The Troughs-For-You Party tones down its rhetoric in the knowledge that "taxing the rich until the pips squeak" (to quote Labour's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey) has the effect of disincentiving the entrepreneurial and hard working elements of society. The I'm-All-Right-Jack Party realises that some public money is required to keep the downtrodden from rising up and stringing up the rich from lamp-posts and so moderates its natural instincts to something more balanced.

Above: voting, today. Despite the rain.

There's no place for a Balance party though. Adopt the middle ground (which is where political power tends to end up anyway) and get kicked to death by TFY and IARJ. Troughists will accuse you of being a sanitised version of Genghis Khan, while All-Rightists will paint you as a crypto-communist.

Politics is nothing else than human biology (the only ideology!) at work. If you are, by dint of nature or nurture, well-off, the thought of the State helping itself to your hard-earned cash to enable society's slackers to enjoy a standard of living to which they are not entitled to is infuriating. If you are disadvantaged and have a lower level of education, poor health, low levels of drive and essentially you are not a coper, you will expect the better-off to dip into their pockets to help you out, and will vote for those who promise to do so.

The other night I was discussing with my fellow Anglo-Poles Marzena Richter and Alex Staniszewski (owners of auditing firm Staniszewski & Richter) the paradox of the Greek Cypriots. The stereotypical Greek Cypriot is hard-working and entrepreneurial whereas across the Eastern Med the rest of the Greeks are now seen as a lazy, something-for-nothing nation who burn tyres in the street when they're told that they live beyond their means. Greek Cypriots are ethnically Greek, yet culturally British. (This is something to take on board in the nature-or-nurture debate. I'm convinced that nations that have had it good for too long (usually at the expense of other nations) get their come-uppance. Empires wax and wane. I'm convinced that Poland's time is come; this century will see Poland gaining ground on America and Western Europe when it comes to wealth per capita. But it must be done with better-run institutions, higher levels of social trust and an elite that can take a long-term look at the good of the nation.

And so, to the ballot box. If you've not voted yet, do so. The higher the turnout, the less likely a nutty candidate is to get elected (compare the UK's last parliamentary election* with the last European election**.)

* Turnout 65%. Not one British National Party or UK Independence Party candidate elected
** Turnout 34%. UK Independence Party came second with 12 MEPs elected, beating Labour into third place. The BNP won two seats.