Political feast or famine?

All this government talk of political harmony has got me confused. Political harmony, in the context that Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen keeps talking about, is that we all must stop arguing over the most crucial aspects of politics and agree to agree on everything.

John Lennon dreamed of a perfect world, too, in which everyone got along, in his classic hit Imagine - but he was not foolhardy enough to believe it would actually happen.

Political harmony does exist, on the surface at least, in North Korea: bullets await those who call for ballots. I am not saying Mr Tsang means harm to those who spoil his vision of harmony, but I am saying that the dreams of leaders, while visionary, must also be practical - not impossible.

Mr Tsang wants, in essence, all our politicians to put aside their differing principles and always agree on common causes set by him. Just think how much duller Hong Kong's already dull political life would become if that were to happen.

Imagine hearing no more of those tame outbursts by our politicians over equally tame issues, and an end to the comical images of dissident lawmaker 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung being dragged away by security guards for protesting.

In Mr Tsang's perfect world, the Legislative Council would always vote in unison after scripted debates, as it did in the days of our colonial past.

Ask yourself this: if all of us followed our leader without question, how would we know if the common causes advocated by him are right, or good for us? One consequence of such total harmony could be an entire herd following its leader in leaping off a cliff, without some challenging the wisdom of mass suicide and saying that, 'you can jump but you're not taking me with you'.