The 21st
century populist challenge to meritocracy
My comment on Ross Douthat,
in his New York Times column of 15/2018
Here, I examine the grounds for the rise of a
populist and then consider the chances for the survival of democratic
meritocracy in America. The worldwide
spread of electronic technology has created problems that the elites have not
been able to sufficiently solve within the framework of the global order
created by and dominated by the United States, in which nations can pursue
their self-interests safely. The elites, who are trusted to run the world, are
therefore mostly improvising , while considering possible alternate orders.
Just as passengers on a boat steered by an obviously improvising captain feel increasing anxiety, so, by time
of the 2008 presidential campaign, a critical number of Americans felt great anxiety. Both Barack Obama and John McCain,
responsible patriots, sensed this anxiety and knew that anxiety is a breeding
ground for a populist demagogue. they
kept cool throughout the campaign until in the last debate during which Sen.
McCain seeing that he was heading for a loss, launched a savage attack, which
was overcome by Sen. Obama’s counterattack. In New York State, a populist
campaigned I got like the you when we want and how much, is a check today all
the way all the way to for the governorship, but he was so ill-prepared that he
was laughed off the scene. The successful populist was, of course, Donald J.
Trump, who campaigned solely on his self- proclaimed ability to solve all
problems ignoring the “swamp” of established elites. He is, of course, just
another member of the elite class and knew well that there were strong limits
on what he could accomplish without the cooperation of the “swamp”
Meanwhile,
in Guatemala, for example, the percentage of people living in misery has been
very much greater than the percentage of such. In the United States. This is
not new; however, new communication technology has enabled many of the
miserable be willing to risk their miserable lives in trying to come to live
here. This wave of attempted migration and similar waves if other relatively
well-off countries has led to real or imagined destabilization in the host
countries, increasing the general anxiety and support for would be populist
leaders. Are there any elected populist leaders who have maintained full
democracy and carried a nation to sufficient prosperity and peace? If so, they
are few, whereas strong men or one party countries have achieved more of these,
at the expense of democracy.
Pres. Trump
may or not be reelected, and at the end of his tenure the effects of his
leadership will be debated (probably noisily). In any case, it seems very
unlikely that he will be followed in office by another would be- populist. This
is especially so given that the Democrat candidate
whom he
defeated, Secretary of State Clinton, although virtuously and wisely
campaigning as a grandmother soothing the agitation populace, was vilified by
her own campaign manager and staff in a conversation public leaked, had from
the start been more unpopular than Mr. Trump, and had only with a show of
reluctance, played to her strongest base, organized labor.
Mr. Douthat
reports that It would take international developments extremely negative to Americans to persuade us to discard democracy
or for it offer is to be overthrown.
Some, including An air Peer-E, Pastor of District 1 of the Family Federation
for World Have unification and World Peace (a position functionally similar to
that of a Superintendent in the United Methodist Church) I worried that China,
run by a strong man with an extensive one party apparatus at his disposal will
become so economically strong, at the extent human rights, so impact America.
Meanwhile, as some, maybe significant third parties such as all-rights or
so-called socialist (actively advocating huge parental government, and the
spacer event people’s anger and wish they had channeled their anxiety however,
emerging threats will continue to be as subtle, although not complacently,
probably.
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