According to Osho, the ideal political regime is meritocracy—rule by the most capable—because it comes closest to anarchism, his ultimate criterion, where government withers away into absolute freedom. The worst is fascism (and any dictatorship), being farthest from freedom. Evaluate systems by their proximity to anarchism: the nearer to individual liberty and self-responsibility, the better; the farther, the worse.
The best rule is by truly capable people who expand everyone’s freedom; the worst is bullies who control everything.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
In your opinion, which is the ideal political regime and which is the worst?
Fascism is the worst, and meritocracy is the best. The criterion is anarchism. Whichever regime is closer to anarchism is better -- the closest to anarchism is the best -- whichever is farther away from anarchism is worse. Fascism is the farthest, dictatorship the farthest; they are the worst. Anarchism is my criterion. The best regime can only be meritocracy, which will be very close to anarchism. Just one step more and all regimes disappear. Anarchism... No government means absolute freedom, and freedom is the ultimate value of life.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS THE BEST GOVERNMENT? No government. The very idea of somebody governing somebody else is inhuman. Government is a game, the ugliest and the dirtiest game in the world. But there are people in the lowest state of consciousness who enjoy it: these are the politicians. The only joy of a politician is to govern, to be in power, to enslave people The greatest desire of all those who have reached to the peaks of consciousness has been the dream that one day we can get rid of all governments. That day will be the greatest in the whole history -- past, present, future -- of man, because getting rid of all governments will mean destroying the ugliest game, the game the politicians have been playing for centuries.
Beloved Osho, what are the defects of the present political system in india, and what is the remedy? What type of political system would be suitable?
It was simply out of necessity; when his mother was assassinated he had to come into politics, unwillingly. He has no political ambitions, and that is a great hope. India has maintained a policy of neutrality for forty years-not being either in the Soviet camp or American camp, but remaining neutral to both. The idea was that if you are neutral to both, both will be friendly to you. But in reality, just the opposite happened. Both are suspicious of India. Because you are neutral, nobody knows: in a situation when your support is needed, which camp will you support? Drop that idea of neutrality. I am not saying become part of a camp. There is no need to become part of a camp. But drop the idea of being neutral; mix with both the camps and allow both the camps to help you. And both will compete in helping…
Osho, would you like to throw some light on politics, according to the three different levels of consciousness?
At the time of Gautam Buddha, perhaps around the whole world, the second level of consciousness came to its highest peak. In China, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Mencius, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu -- these were the people, contemporaries. In India, Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Makhkhali Ghosal, Ajit Keshkambal, Sanjay Vilethiputta -- they were overpowering, giants. In Greece, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Heraclitus, Pythagoras -- they touched the very peak of intelligence. All over the world, suddenly it was as if a tidal wave of intelligence came. Only idiots remained fighting; all the intelligent people were deep into finding ways how to decide what is right and what is wrong. In India it was a tradition for every philosopher to travel all over India, challenging others. Challenge was not inimical -- you have to understand that. On the second level there is no enmity, both challengers are seekers. It is a friendly phenomenon,…
Osho, which is the best nation in the world? And which do you consider the worst?
India is both, because here I am—and so are you. India has touched the highest peaks of consciousness in this world, and now I also see you lying in the gutters. You have become so accustomed to the gutters that you have turned them into temples. You don’t even wish to get out! There was a revolution in France. There was a central prison, the Bastille, where only those sentenced for life were kept. Their handcuffs and shackles were broken only when they died. Once the locks were closed, the keys were thrown into wells. In dark cells, bound in heavy chains, thousands of prisoners lived in the Bastille. When the revolution came, naturally the revolutionaries felt that the first thing to do was to free these prisoners. They had suffered the most. They broke the gates of the Bastille. But the prisoners were not willing to leave the prison,…