South Africans, buffeted by hostile economic ill winds, are watching with increasing irritation and bewilderment as their supposed representatives, seemingly indifferent to their plight, turn parliament into a place where even hoodlums would feel at home. It's a depressing spectacle. Proceedings of parliament - if we can still call it that - should have an age restriction when shown on TV. Parental guidance should be a requirement. The place is vulgar, uncouth, incoherent and seems to have almost lost its purpose. To call it a circus is passé. A circus is full of mirth and amusement. This is not funny anymore.story_article_left1What is meant to be the repository of our long-cherished dreams and aspirations, the beacon of our achievement, has become a source of shame and embarrassment. It should be a place where we put our best foot forward; instead it's an amphitheatre where rogues settle their scores.Given how difficult it was to get where we are and the sacrifices that were made, this should be a solemn, almost sacred, place.All sorts of scriptural allusions come to mind. A pearl has been given to swine, and, not seeming to know what to do with it, they're trampling on it.It's almost like the biblical temple that had taken on the vulgarity of the marketplace. Unfortunately for us, there's no messiah or saviour who can walk in there, overturn the tables and drive out our latter-day moneychangers.It is easy to forget that these adults who behave like impertinent kiddies in a kindergarten are the worthies who make laws which society is then called upon to obey.It seems they could do with a lesson on the basics of democracy, what freedom is about. It's not about drowning out or shouting down the other person. Of course, there will always be disagreement. But, to use a cliché, people can disagree without being disagreeable.Democracy is about the back and forth, where ideas get thrown around, honed and refined, and character is shaped. We learn a lot more from our foes or those who challenge what we stand for.story_article_right2Ours is still a fledgling democracy. What we do now, for better or ill, could ultimately decide the type of society we will have for generations.Unfortunately, what's happening in parliament is not an exception. At the University of Cape Town some students were this week happily engaged in incendiary activities with dangerously racist overtones. One would assume these students, with their posh accents, come from good homes with good parents and have gone to good schools. They now attend one of the elite institutions in the country, an opportunity denied to millions of their peers. So how did these young intellectuals survive a dozen years of schooling without being civilised or refined by it?Apparently radicalism or being a revolutionary is about breaking things, especially those that don't belong to you. The more wanton damage you wreak, the more revolutionary you are supposed to be. But destruction requires no skill at all. Even morons are known to be pretty good at it.No need to dwell on the outrage at UCT except to say that the Holocaust was preceded in the '30s by a book- burning campaign by the German Student Union, a Nazi affiliate. Books targeted were those by Jewish writers, liberals and communists. We avert our gaze at our peril. These things need to be nipped in the bud.While the students' behaviour can probably be put down to the exuberance of youth, our MPs have no such a mitigation to offer.So how did we get here? The quality of the people we send to parliament is extremely poor, and our education system has a lot to do with it - many cannot adequately express themselves in English, which breeds a lot of frustration.story_article_left3But the main problem is the way we select our MPs. In fact, selection is not the word. There's no rigorous process to choose our MPs. They're appointed or anointed by those in power and are essentially expected to be voting fodder. They don't have views. They toe a line. Theirs is not to reason why.Our system therefore guarantees that chaff, not the cream, rises to the top almost unnoticed. No wonder competence, trust, respect, honesty - qualities that make for a good leader - have not only disappeared, but have become a bar to success.And because of the paucity of skills and talent in parliament - the pool from which the country's leadership is drawn - quality at cabinet level gets seriously undermined.What is required is some form of gatekeeping or quality control before an individual walks into parliament. This can only happen if politicians are directly accountable to those who vote for them, that is, if they are made to fight an election. Competition would make them better candidates and ultimately better MPs or leaders.We would, for instance, be spared the spectacle of parliamentarians shamelessly prostrating themselves to protect a corrupt president, for they will be mindful of the wrath of their constituents back home...