Why make promises you can’t keep, and end up with disillusioned voters? Rather enter into a contract, pay them to vote for you, and deliver on your contract; then everyone’s happy.

That’s the new philosophy behind open, transparent bidding for votes, and it works both ways. Voters can’t complain about politicians whose money they’ve accepted, and pols have a contract they have to honour, or get sued. And it’s all above board and legally enforceable.

Cynics would say, this is what happens anyway, but under the old system, votes were secret, and you could never prove who you voted for, or audit their performance. Provenance makes all the difference.

Although this commercial style of elections was initially proposed by policy wonks in the United States, Singapore was the first country to adopt it, and the latest election, or should we say auction, has been hailed as a resounding success. Everything is done online and verified electronically – results are in immediately, as soon as the last payment is completed.

While some pundits say this could never work in a more diverse country like India, others point out that it was the very fragile nature of Singapore’s society that prompted this move. “You can’t hide the tensions below the surface forever; better to bring things out into the open and solve them like commercial issues!”

After all, capitalism is the new religion that makes society operate effectively; why not in politics too? South Korea is rumoured to be next in line for this electoral model. Perhaps the future of politics is real transparency!