We have even lesser rights.

China is vilified as an oligarchy with no human rights for common people. Power is held by the Standing Committee of the Politburo which currently has 9 members but will be reduced to 7 members for easier decision making. The General Secretary of the Politburo is the President of China, presently Hu Jin Tao. The Politburo itself has 25 members and is elected by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of some 2000 members. The Central Committee will meet next month to choose the next Politburo and the members of the all powerful Standing Committee. In reality they have already been chosen at secret meetings held in a seaside town and will be rubber stamped next month. The citizens of China will have no say at all in who will be their future rulers. Yet there will be change. Every 10 years the entire Politburo is changed and a completely new team takes over the running of the country. This brings in younger people and fresh ideas in the direction the country should take. In democracies there is no such safeguard. In the US the President can hold office for 2 terms of 4 years each and is then ineligible to stand forever. However there is no term limit on the members of the House and the Senate. Russia also has a similar term limit for the post of President but Vladimir Putin got round that by allowing Dmitry Medvedev to become President for one term while he was the Prime Minister and has now been elected President again with Medvedev as Prime Minister. He has got the Duma to increase the duration of the term to 6 years. This is a mockery of the constitution and since he is President by the powers conferred by the constitution he has made a mockery of himself. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela does not need a fig leaf to hide his naked ambition. Since he had a huge majority in parliament he got the constitution changed to allow him to stand as many times as he likes and won his third term last week. Manel Zelaya tried the same trick in Honduras in 2009 but was ousted in a coup in the morning of 28 June and bundled off to Costa Rica while still in his pajamas. Thankfully there are some honorable men in the world. Nelson Mandela gave up after his term in office, although he could have stayed on forever, as did Lula Da Silva of Brazil who was immensely popular. Sadly we in India have the worst of all the worlds. We have a so called democracy which involves pressing a button on an electronic machine every 5 years or so to select one out of a number of criminals or buffoons. There is no term limit and the same ugly mugs are to be seen year after year. Since politicians seem immune to every illness you see them while you are in your diapers and they are still there while you are being carried off to the crematorium. They have soiled every institution from industry to administration to sports by their purulent presence. How do we cleanse ourselves?