Finding the Cure for Today's Social Ills
189
BTG: Revolution?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes.
BTG:  Then the most important thing is to find the common cause that people can unite on?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes, just like in our Kṛṣṇa conscious society you come to consult me about every activity because I can give you the common cause. Otherwise, there will be fighting. The government should be very expert to know the aim of life—the common cause—and they should train the people to work for the common cause. Then they will be happy and peaceful. But if people simply elect rascals like Nixon, they will never find a common cause. Any rascal can secure votes by some arrangement, and then he becomes the head of the government. The candidates are bribing, they are cheating, they are making propaganda to win votes. Somehow or other they get votes and capture the prime post. This system is bad.
BTG:  So if we don't choose our leaders by popular election, how will society be governed?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  You require  brāhmaṇas ,  kṣatriyas ,  vaiśyas , and  śūdras . Just as when you want to construct a building, you require engineers. You don't want sweepers. Isn't that so? What will the sweeper do? No, there must be engineers. So if you follow the division of  varṇāśrama , only  kṣatriyas  are allowed to govern. And for the legislative assembly—the senators—only qualified  brāhmaṇas . Now the butcher is in the legislative assembly. What does he know about making laws? He is a butcher, but by winning votes he becomes a senator. At the present moment, by the principle of vox populi, a butcher goes to the legislature. So everything depends on training. In our Kṛṣṇa conscious society, we're actually doing that, but in the case of politics, they forget it. There cannot be just one class. That is foolishness, because we have to engage different classes of men in different activities. If we do not know the art, then we will fail because unless there is a division of work, there will be havoc. We have discussed all the responsibilities of the king in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam . The different classes in society should cooperate exactly as the different parts of the body do. Although each part is meant for a different purpose, they all work for one cause: to maintain the body properly.
BTG:  What is the actual duty of the government?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  To understand what God wants, and to see that society works toward that aim. Then people will be happy. But if the people work in the wrong direction, how can they be happy? The government's duty is to see that they are working in the right direction. The