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The Departure of Democracy

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Clarissa

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Spain didn’t manage to elect a government on a first try and after 6 months of impotent bickering is holding a rematch. Voters are jaded and unenthusiastic.

Britain is considering a revote on its most recent referendum ten seconds after it happened. People voted without realizing their vote might have consequences.

The US presidential election resembles more a reality TV season than an actual election. An aging starlet happily chirps about voting in a way that would prove the most fun.

On a smaller scale, the state of Illinois elected a grifter who is so unaware of how to exercise his duties that the state has had no budget for a year and a half.

Representative democracy needs engaged citizens in order to function. Loners who press buttons and poke screens to create an illusion of being part of something can’t make it work.

13 responses to “The Departure of Democracy”

  1. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    “Representative democracy needs engaged citizens”

    And fluidity hates the idea of engaged citizens. Or rather, none of the values driving fluidity are conducive to the creation of an engaged citizenry.

    “Loners who press buttons and poke screens to create an illusion of being part of something can’t make it work.”

    All fluidity can create is loners connected by temporary transitory bonds that need to constantly be reaffirmed through hashtags and feel good screen pushing to maintain the illusion they are real.

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  2. el Avatar
    el

    If not democracy, who will govern Europe and the world? Bureaucrats at Brussels elected behind the scenes by the rich? Like having one (not communist) party deciding everything for the good of the few people who count?

    Why would they care about unemployed exactly? Specially, if wars and lobal warming lead to shortages of food and water in the Middle East and Africa, bringing millions to overpopulated Europe?

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  3. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    I dont’ really believe the story of mass voter regret and/or groundswell for a re-vote. There’s always a few people with voters’ regret but most of the accounts I’ve seen the leave voters are at least as well thought out as the remainers.

    Interesting take on the vote:

    independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-salford-vote-european-union-latest-updates-polls-a7103521.html

    Note that cultural issues are at the root of most people’s argument and not immigration per se. As I keep saying the classical model of immigration that you followed is dead in the water and not coming back any more than manufactuting jobs are.

    Immigration is not part of fluidity, migration is (with no implication of any feeling of cultural affinity or integration except to whatever wandering class* one decides to belong to).

    *ad hoc name for a phenomenon I’ve started to notice and am trying to work out

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  4. NG Avatar
    NG

    Here’s a spanner. The devolved Scottish legislature may have veto rights over Britain’s exit from the EU since an exit would require an amendment of section 29 of the Scotland Act 1998 which binds the Scottish Parliament to act in a manner compatible with EU law. The Scottish parliament is subordinate to Whitehall but does have certain general privileges under the Devolution Act.

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    1. matt Avatar
      matt

      So i don’t know the answer to this, but it IS legal to leave the EU.. article 50 filing and a two year negotiation process. Or so I have seemed to read. I have also seemed this scottish argument pedaled but not once have they addressed how its illegal to lleave (which it really isn’t it appears)…. so I think this is just ignorant bloviating by those vested interests who want to stay. have you heard otherwise?

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      1. Z Avatar
        Z

        Matt, Scottish parliament is bound by British law to act in a manner compatible with EU law. It cannot get out of that unless it secedes from Britain. This would be one of the things Britain would have to negotiate out of in article 50 discussions. What NG is saying is that the law as written may give Scotland veto rights over Brexit. (I think they’ll find a way around that, but it is still tantalizing.)

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  5. Vic Crain Avatar
    Vic Crain

    Clarissa,

    Back to your original point. We don’t have engaged citizenry. We have different interest groups and a mass populace which is largely and intentionally ignorant of the issues and is upset about their declining standard of living. The interest groups themselves (the “elite”)are at cross-purposes. What the rich want, what big business wants, what small business wants are somewhat different. Hence the inability to formulate a common agenda and the inability to unite behind the Stay campaign until too late.

    There are several ways forward from here. Clearly a charismatic leader could introduce a totalitarian government in almost any democracy given the level of disaffection among the masses. (It doesn’t even require support from a majority of the masses. The Brown Shirts were never a majority of Germans, but they were enough.)

    There’s also the potential for totalitarianism through technology. Neuromarketers are working on manipulation of consumer thoughts and the political applications of that technology are obvious. They just need to stall any major upheaval to buy time for that technology to be ready.

    It’s also possible that a charismatic leader with benevolent intent might arise, but we haven’t seen any candidates for that yet.

    What’s not likely is that the current status quo can maintain itself indefinitely. It seems increasingly likely that the next major crisis may trigger violence.

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    1. Z Avatar
      Z

      Do you think it is delusional to be an engaged citizen anymore? Or do we just have a simulacrum of engagement, engagement without affecting anything?

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        “Or do we just have a simulacrum of engagement, engagement without affecting anything?”

        • Exactly. “But we are very politically active”, a 19-year-old student told me last year. “We do a lot of hashtagging on Twitter!”

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        1. Z Avatar
          Z

          I am talking about actual work, the actual work of an engaged citizen, do you think that is just a simulacrum, or that it has any effect?

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          1. Clarissa Avatar
            Clarissa

            That engaged citizen is becoming a rarity, that’s the problem. We are in year 2 without a budget but trying to get anybody to care is a waste of time.

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      2. Vic Crain Avatar
        Vic Crain

        I’m an absolute fan of citizen engagement. Widespread, real engagement will change policies and diminish abuses. It’s when citizens allow themselves to be led by the nose by elites that we see government run amok. What’s delusional is for elites to pretend that voters/consumers don’t matter. They’ve been rather cavalier about the citizenry in both UK and US, and that explains both the response to Brexit and the Trump campaign.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          The politicians who are catching on to how little voters care about the substance of what they are saying in favor of special effects and the “fun” factor are the ones who are winning.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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