Time to take lessons from the student!

India is a country that admires USA. USA is India’s teacher or role model in many ways. Students in India want to come to USA for higher education. The Indian youth follows the American music and fashions with great devotion. However, the recent events have made me think that USA can take a few lessons from India. Here are the lessons I have in mind:
Supreme Court Appointments: In India, the Supreme Court nominees are not appointed by the political party in power to suit their ideology and political agenda. A person has to move up the ranks within the judicial system to become a Supreme Court Justice. The selection is done on a merit and seniority basis. There is no chance of an outsider without clear a judicial track record ever becoming a justice in the Indian Supreme Court. (There is no Clarence Thomas in India). Also, the appointment to Indian Supreme Court is not for life. A justice has to retire at age 65. There are no old and sick justices hanging on to power, as in USA. (We do not need examples here)
Elections: In India, a three person Election Commission Office (ECI) controls all the general elections. The members of this commission are selected very carefully assuring that they have no bias to any political party. The Chief Election Commissioner, who commands the same authority and prestige as the Chief Justice of India, strictly enforces fair practices in all Parliament and State elections. This is a sharp contrast to the elections in USA where the partisan politicians are in charge. (In year 2000, State Secretary Kathleen Harris, who was also the co-chair of Bush Campaign, managed Florida elections. The Ohio Secretary Kenneth Blackwell in year 2004 had the same patrician credentials). People in India believe that their votes count. Over 80% of the people vote there. In USA, an election with a turn out of near 50% is considered to be a great success. Few believe that their vote makes a difference.
Homeland Security: I feel that India has been way ahead of USA in understanding her vulnerabilities to terrorism, and managing them. The years of hostility with the neighbor nation Pakistan has a lot to do with it. Since early 1970’s, India has enforced strict security clearance procedures for airline passengers. In fact, since 1973 Indian Security was ready for the possibility of someone hijacking a plane and flying it into a tall building. In USA, the security has started catching up only recently (Remember the clueless National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice saying after 9/11, ‘ I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile' ) India has a superb intelligence network well entrenched in enemy countries. India’s sizable Muslim population actually helps the government against any foreign terrorist intrusion.
Disaster Recovery: Thanks to frequent natural calamities (and few train wrecks!), India is well prepared to handle any disaster. The 2004 Tsunami caused massive destruction and deaths in the coastal regions of southern India. India refused any foreign help, and took care of the whole thing without missing a beat. There was no looting, or corpses lying in the open for days.
Attention to the poor: The majority of people in India are poor, and they vote! So the political party in power has to give a lot of attention to improving their plight. And they do. The education and the health care systems in India are heavily subsidized to make them affordable. There are many quotas and regulations to assure that the ‘backward’ people also get a chance in education and job placement. The government there is expected to be big and capable of taking care of the poor. In USA, big government is considered bad and wasteful. The poor and the weak suffer as a result.

Yes, it is time for the teacher to learn from the student!