Are Things Easier Solved by One Man or Common Sense?

Leaving aside the marginal ideas that pass through my mind, I have been thinking for a long time about where to start to find the right answer to this question. 

If we look at the recent problems our country has faced, I can directly say that our country is too big for one person. If we were a smaller-scale country, maybe it would make sense for one person to rule, but as I said, it seems that one person cannot keep up with everything.

Nevertheless, let's try to objectively analyze this issue with its pros and cons. 

I am not going to do a very in-depth research, I will just try to make an evaluation with the aspects that are visible.

1) If there is a decision to be taken on any issue and if we try to listen to everybody's opinion, I think we have to spend a lot of time. So when one person is in charge, the decision can be taken in a much shorter time. I can say that the shorter time for decisions is a plus of one-man rule. 

2) One person's knowledge is not sufficient for every issue. Therefore, he/she will need various advisors to take decisions. Since the advisors will bring different ideas to the table, it would make sense for this single person, if he/she does not have a clear knowledge of the subject, to follow the opinions of people whose knowledge he/she trusts in making the decision. This is where who he trusts and who he doesn't trust comes to the fore. Even if he listens to all the different opinions, how else can he be sure? Of necessity, the opinion of the person he trusts will be more valuable. But what if that opinion is wrong? His own knowledge is insufficient. Moreover, the human character will not listen to every opinion anyway. In other words, the decisions taken will have a high probability of being wrong in a one-man rule. We can say that this is a minus. 

3) Power poisoning caused by the concentration of power in one hand. I think this is also a disadvantage. As I mentioned in the article above, one man may not feel the need to listen to all the different opinions with the psychology that if they have given me this authority, I know best. I think this is also a minus.

4) Responsibility Those who express opinions are not ultimately responsible. Therefore, they may be too complacent and come up with ideas without weighing them thoroughly. This is the downside of one-man rule. 

5) The consultants will be punished for their mistakes by being punished by that one person. In a way, this may prevent complacency. But still, the fact that they do not feel direct responsibility may cause them to make mistakes. So in any case, not sharing responsibility is a minus. 

6) Also, since decisions are made much faster, the consultants may not have enough time to weigh the issue, which can also be considered as a reason for wrong ideas. So again a minus.

7) Backlogs can also be a problem because one person is too busy. Since his/her approval has to be sought for all matters, even those closest to him/her may not be able to reach him/her for an urgent matter, and this may be a reason why things are not resolved as quickly as desired. Again, a minus.

8) With the right person, i.e. a forward-thinking person, sometimes the decisions taken by the majority are wrong or not courageous enough, but the decision of a single person can be more correct and courageous. There are examples of this in Atatürk's time. Look, I have to say that this is an advantage of one-man rule, but this advantage does not apply to just anyone. The person in charge has to be far-sighted.

9) What if the person in charge is not knowledgeable and far-sighted enough? In this case, it is the opposite, no matter how valuable the team of advisors around him, if the decisions he makes are taken with his personal feelings, they may be wrong decisions. Because he will not value the opinions of the majority, he will do what he thinks is right and this can sometimes lead to irreversible mistakes. So again a minus.

10) The one man can become detached from society because he is too busy. Moreover, if those around him hide the reactions of the society, if they prevent him from seeing the events by sycophancy and flattery, the one man can build a dream world for himself and start living in that dream world. This is the saddest situation. In ancient times, to get rid of this situation, rulers used to mingle with the society in disguise and try to understand the society. In today's conditions it is also impossible to do this. So again a minus, and this starry minus.

11) Let's look at another plus point of the one man. One man can be a very strong character in international relations. Because he has a big power behind him, he can be taken more seriously in relations with other countries. At the end of the day, if a decision has to be taken, he will take it. Since he cannot say that he cannot decide on this issue, he will be able to have direct talks with everyone on all kinds of issues and he will have more information about the events. This will make him more consistent in his assessments. I think this is a plus.

12) Of course, according to the new electoral system, since the nation directly elects this one man, we have to rely on the wisdom of the nation. So I don't even want to talk about something that could be a minus. I'm talking about the person in power using his power for his own interests. A person elected by the people cannot be like that, so I don't consider this as a minus.

I don't associate the other issues with one-man rule, if you ask what I mean by other issues:

- For example, one man being elected and staying in power for five years. I think it would be wrong to consider this issue as a plus of one-man rule. Stability can also be achieved in a parliamentary system. In Germany, for example, the old government remains in power until a new government is formed. Since the current government loses the elections, it cannot or will not take permanent decisions during this period, and although this situation creates a bit of a lame duck situation, it is a solution in terms of stability.

- I don't think that the fact that our current system of governance cannot be audited can be considered as a minus. This issue ultimately stems from the wrongness in the establishment of the system. Supervisory mechanisms can be created for the current system as well. I will not go into details.

- Unity of powers is also one of the mistakes of the system, but this is a mistake that can be corrected.

- The law on political parties and similar faulty laws are the same. They are also mistakes that need to be corrected.

In my opinion, these and similar problems have nothing to do with whether the system is parliamentary or presidential. I think that if these issues are properly addressed in both systems, there will be no problem.

One last issue is the representation of the state. In my opinion, the presidency should actually be a representative office, it should be above politics. But at the point we have reached, especially when the nation started to directly elect the president, this office has also become a power center. Therefore, because of the old system, which was also a bit wrongly constructed, the fact that there was a second power center in the state administration caused a power conflict at those levels of the state.

It is not possible for it to be a completely representative office. That's why I still haven't made a decision on this issue, which one is more correct.

I don't know if it is possible to elect a fully representative president.

As it is now, a president elected by the nation will feel an electoral power behind him/her, so he/she will not be able to stand aside and see that office only as a representative office.

So I really don't know how this issue should be handled.

Can things be solved more easily with one man or with common sense?

Yes, this is the situation, if you want, I will not give an answer to the first question, you tell me.

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow

Note: I condemn those who did this for the explosion on Istiklal Street. I wish patience to the relatives and loved ones of those who lost their lives. I wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured. Our sincere condolences as a country.