Is Political Arrogance dragging Europe to the Right?

[spmetla]

Liberal democracy isn't functional when the sovereign people believe too much in the liberalism and democracy without taking on any of the responsibilities that should come with these rights. They theoretically have the right to disregard the advice of experienced experts and go with a meme-based movement. But the practical results would not be good.

That's when we have the problem of the tyranny of the masses as in ancient Athens. The representative part of the older American system was its great strength; yes, there was more backroom dealings and corruption but at the end of the day competent technocrats made things happen.
Remember Themistocles that had to trick the Athenians into building a fleet to counter the hated rivals in Aegina so that they could actually have a fleet for the far off Persian threat.

I actually wish that the US no longer elected Senators directly in order to remove that part of Congress from the threat of ignorant populism. Unfortunately the problem of democracy is that you get the government you deserve, not necessarily the one you need.

[Pannonian]

That's when we have the problem of the tyranny of the masses as in ancient Athens. The representative part of the older American system was its great strength; yes, there was more backroom dealings and corruption but at the end of the day competent technocrats made things happen.
Remember Themistocles that had to trick the Athenians into building a fleet to counter the hated rivals in Aegina so that they could actually have a fleet for the far off Persian threat.

I actually wish that the US no longer elected Senators directly in order to remove that part of Congress from the threat of ignorant populism. Unfortunately the problem of democracy is that you get the government you deserve, not necessarily the one you need.

The problem is that anti-technocracy has become a virtue in and of itself, seen most clearly in Michael Gove's remark, "We think we've had enough of experts", but also seen in the virulent anti-Blairism of the Labour party, which has purged the executive parts of all experience of any kind of government and administration, and replaced them with people with experience of nothing except protest marches. To return to the Athenian parallel, Socrates has lost the argument after Arginusae, and no one with any kind of talent will be interested in leading after the generals have been purged.

[spmetla]

The rise of the anti-expert is a strange thing of the times. Holistic medicine which has merits in preventative health has become the voque thing for the overly educated liberated anti-corporate feminists. Same thing with politics, immigration isn't a problem right now in the US but someone building a wall to keep the Mexicans out has become a warcry.
Thanks to people being able to 'research' on wikipedia/google they all think they know enough to discredit actual experts.

It's another reason that I wish we also had run-off ballots in the US, that way everyone could vote for the wingbat they want and also for the lesser of two evils without having to throw their vote away. Would prevent some of the swing to the fringes (left and right) that's happening on both sides of the Atlantic.