Bility Questions ‘Political Spectacle’ -Warns popularity can overshadow competence

MOROVIA – Musa Hassan Bility urged Liberians to strengthen democracy through education, truthful information and institutions, arguing that equal voting rights must be accompanied by a fair opportunity to make informed choices. In his “Letter from Saclepea,” titled “When Knowledge and Ignorance Carry Equal Weight,” Bility warned that political spectacle could allow popularity to overshadow competence.

Equal votes and informed choices

Bility noted that people often describe democracy as the best system of government because it most clearly recognizes every citizen’s political equality. Rich or poor, educated or uneducated, powerful or powerless, each citizen enters the voting booth with the same power: one person, one vote.

He described that equality as one of democracy’s greatest virtues, while arguing that it may also expose one of its greatest vulnerabilities. He stressed that educated citizens should not have more voting power than uneducated citizens, because the right to choose leaders belongs equally to everyone.

Bility stated that the deeper problem arises when a society gives people equal political power without reasonable access to education, truthful information, civic understanding and the ability to distinguish leadership from performance. “When knowledge and ignorance carry equal weight, spectacle can defeat reason,” he wrote.

He argued that the loudest voices can begin to dominate without necessarily being the wisest. Popularity becomes the measure of leadership, visibility outweighs competence, emotion overwhelms judgment, and recognition becomes more important than understanding.

Bility contended that the ability to excite a crowd can become more politically valuable than the ability to govern a country. He likened a society that prizes recognition over competence to a ship guided by applause rather than skill.

Choosing leaders for competence

Using the example of a ship caught in dangerous waters, Bility observed that passengers would not select a captain simply because he was the most popular person aboard. They would ask who understands the sea, reads the weather, knows the vessel and has the judgment to navigate a storm.

He argued that citizens too often abandon those standards when choosing people to manage an entire country. They choose familiarity over capability, reward charisma over competence, and allow slogans to replace ideas and political theater to displace serious discussion of the economy, education, healthcare, infrastructure, justice and their children’s future.

Bility described the problem as a challenge confronting democracy everywhere, rather than one confined to Liberia. He argued that the consequences can be especially severe in a developing country such as Liberia because every failed political choice can cost years of development.

He maintained that democracy cannot simply mean elections and that citizens must have access to knowledge if it is to work. Education, he argued, must become a national democratic necessity rather than merely a social service.

He called for the protection of independent institutions and urged the press to inform rather than merely excite. Political parties, he added, must develop ideas rather than personalities.

Bility proposed judging prospective leaders by what they know, what they have done, what they stand for and whether they possess the competence to govern. The number of people who recognize their names should not be the sole measure, he argued.

A call for better democracy

Without those standards, Bility warned, democracy can slowly become a competition for attention. In such a contest, the loudest may defeat the wisest, the most visible may defeat the most capable, and those willing to tell people what they want to hear may defeat those courageous enough to tell them what they need to know.

“The answer is not less democracy,” Bility wrote. “The answer is better democracy.”

He advocated democracy strengthened by education, protected by institutions and informed by facts. Citizens, he argued, should question those seeking to lead them, recognizing that popularity matters because leadership requires public confidence while refusing to mistake popularity alone for competence.

Bility maintained that every Liberian must retain an equal voice. He said the national responsibility is to ensure that every Liberian has a fair opportunity to make that voice an informed one.

He urged Liberians to move beyond asking only whether democracy is the best system of government. His closing question concerned the people, institutions and political culture needed to produce leaders capable of securing the country’s future, rather than merely winning applause.

Bility described that as potentially the more important conversation. He ended the letter by wishing readers a blissful week.