Our new president
By Sho Chang-young
The 20th presidential election of the Republic of Korea ended and the winner was confirmed by a narrow margin. The media is now racing to publish reports on the composition and political orientations of the new government.
During the election, I usually hesitated to show my preference for a certain candidate. That's because I have come to know from my own experience that one's clear expression favoring or opposing a specific political issue could make people feel uncomfortable. This was especially true during presidential elections.
However, I sometimes felt it was necessary to try and make the right judgment about candidates. Of course, the methods and processes in doing that can vary from person to person and the diversity of preferences for candidates will eventually be defined as the political identity of the state.
According to a survey conducted before the election, more than three-quarters of voters had already decided who to support at least a week before they went to the polls. What was the reason for that? I want to believe that they would have fully considered the qualifications of the candidates in overseeing this country's security, economy, diplomacy and social unity.
In any case, I don't think all voters got to choose their best candidate. It is very likely that a significant number of voters voted for the second best candidate.
As you well know, every act of choice entails a benefit or a loss. In this regard, in the early 20th century, Austrian economist Friedrich von Wieser introduced the concept of an "opportunity cost." It is what a person sacrifices when he or she chooses one option over another. In other words, it is the abandoned benefit of an option not chosen.
So what is the option that voters have chosen in this presidential election? That is, what is the national benefit that can be earned from the president-elect? And what is the "opportunity cost"? What would be the anticipated benefits of the loser?
I would like to assume that the public's choice this time will be appropriate in terms of the "opportunity cost" in the end. So to speak, I want to trust the power of the collective intelligence.
Furthermore, with respect to the overall conduct of the presidential election, as an ordinary citizen, I have become optimistic about the future of our country's democracy. In particular, despite the fact that the winner was decided by a very small margin of less than 1 percent, it was beautiful to see the winner and loser alike immediately accept the result of the ballot counting. There have been similar cases in previous presidential elections, but this time it was really overwhelming. Now we can even dare to say that we witnessed true democracy in action through the election.
Did your personal choice match that of the people? If so, you're in luck. Otherwise, you need time to get used to it. This is probably because the “opportunity cost” of yours and that of the majority of people were different.
Last but not least, from a fair and objective standpoint, I wish to congratulate the president-elect. And I truly hope he will become a president loved by of all of us.
The writer (
sochan57@naver.com
) is a retired principal at Gunsan Girls' High School.