Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Group Meditation in Seoul, Korea • April 16, 1994
(Originally in English)

People should search for genius, not rely only on the government and the politicians. The actual voting, election should be recommended by the people. The people really should select who are the ones and make a list, and then all the people can approve it or not approve it. It could begin in school already. The teacher and the parents should know the tendencies of the students, who is good for what and select from there. The people should select their own candidates. And then the selected candidates should not have to pay any money from themselves. If he has money, he can pay; if he doesn’t have money, the people should support him. In that case, the talented and virtuous people do not have to have the money to serve their country.

But I think it’s difficult. The people of the whole planet must rise in consciousness in order to be able to do this. Most of us do not care who is elected, who is not elected. Many people don’t even read newspapers. Some watch TV. But I have discovered that sometimes TV is controlled by the government, and newspapers are freer. So we can read newspapers and watch TV both. I have discovered many times there’s a lot of news printed in the newspaper but not allowed to be broadcasted on TV.

Most of us, we do not really care. Then we cry when something happens — something bad has been done by government. And we accept it, whatever sometimes the government does for us. But most of us do not really participate very actively inside, with the government and with the deciding factors of our country. So sometimes, most of the people don’t even know: “How come that congressman is there? Okay, then we’ll vote for him.” We don’t care where he has come from, don’t care why he is running. If he runs, then it’s okay. Maybe he’s good-looking, he talks nice, then we vote for him. That’s it. This is decided not really by all the people, but just by a group of people. Maybe Labor Party, Democratic Party, Free Party or Not-free Party, they decide it for you. Many people don’t join any party. They don’t even care who is in what party. Then they cry, blame the government, blame God, blame everything, blame the weather, when something is wrong with the government, or the government is wrong.

Therefore, we cannot blame only the politicians. We have to blame ourselves too because we don’t really care for our country. We don’t really care for the planet. We just let it be. Whoever has the money, whoever has the way to run for elections, let them run and then we just vote because there are only two or three. It’s not too much choice, so we just vote for one and hope for the best. Sometimes we vote also because we have to vote. Some people don’t vote or vote blank, nothing inside. It also may be correct because they don’t think any of them are worth it. Maybe they are right. But then someone has to be there. So the most voted person wins the election. In many of the countries, they always complain afterward that the election was not fair, the cheating, and blah, blah, blah. Sometimes people think we don’t need a government. Actually, if we all practiced virtues and wisdom, no need of a government, no need for police, no need for an army. Saves a lot of money and a lot of paperwork. But as it is, maybe there is still a need for a government.