Need for a national ideology!

We are at the threshold of new achievements. We are at the threshold of a new era that will primarily be molded by our common secular beliefs. And this set of beliefs will in turn propel us into a new-found ideology that every citizen subscribes to.

But then, do we have a national ideology? Can Gross National Happiness be that ideology? If so, how can we convince our citizenry that GNH is the ultimate binding factor of our body politics.

While GNH could provide that platform where citizens of a country rally around a common belief, the idea is yet to be internalized by most folks. There are skeptics, and there are cynics. There are people who write off GNH as mere distraction from real issues.

But then, as the country moves into the realm of secularism (as established by the numerous political and economic reforms, as established by a clearly defined rule of law), the old cultural ideologies will increasingly appear weak. In any case, cultural ideologies don’t work anymore, because in a plural society one dominant cultural symbol is bound to draw resistance from the minorities.

In such a situation, the need for the government to define our collective destiny is even more urgent. For example, all Americans have always firmly believed that they are the superpower of the world, and that they are the keepers of liberal democracy in the world. And the American government has gone all the way, taken all recourse, to do what they beleive in, even if it means toppling legitimate governments in Latin America or the Middle East.

Bhutan, as the bureaucratic jargon goes – a tiny nation with no apparent strengths squeezed in between two swelling giants – needs a national ideology even more, a secular ideology that resonates with both perceived and actual ideas of ourselves as a sovereign nation.

A nation is often reinvented based on the value systems that emerge as a result of constant flux in the domains of political, cultural and social negotiations. And the symbol of that reinvention is often a secular ideology that each individual citizen subscribes to no matter what corner of the country he comes from, no matter what value system he subscribes to in his private sanctuary.

Can GNH be that ideology?