Could computerization be pushing the world's democracies leftward? (Image from the BBC.)

Exhibit A is India. Despite American paranoia over outsourcing, the fact is jobs are still very hard to come by there.

As The New York Times reported last week, India's economy is growing like gangbusters but the prosperity hasn't been trickling down quickly enough to rural villages, which are becoming as economically bankrupt as North Dakota farming communities, and for the same reasons.

Subsistence farming doesn't work in a global market. The customers you depended upon to buy your surplus can get cheaper, better produce on the world market. And there are no jobs in town for those without skills.

The result, in India, may be an upset for the nation's opposition Congress Party, still led by the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, widow of Rajiv. (The image is from Soniagandhi.org.) It is still most likely that the governing coalition under Prime Minister Vajpayee will continue to govern, but they called this election to solidify their hold on power following good economic news, so their failure to do so will doubtless be called a defeat by many.

The fact is that the fruits of capitalism are delivered very unevenly, with voters ahead of politicians in demanding equity. To India this is a shock. It's a shock that may be heard around the world.