pro Brexit UK, Trump Supporters, Putin, China, Isis, and the return of old demons [View all]

[DonCoquixote]

We can all wave fingers at something they do and say "that's awful" and indeed, it often is, despite the fact that many can easily pull up something we do and say "that's awful, and indeed, it is."

However, the overall thread that binds these phenomena together is the fact that once, for all of it's faults, the idea of Democratic values, the idea that one person was a citizen and had rights and responsibilities as a citizen, was considered a desired ideal. Now, in all these groups I have mentioned there is an obvious link, and a not so obvious link.

The link is that these people have lost faith in democracy and the state as a means of curing ills and providing stability. Yes Putin and Beijing can wave every communist flag they want, but they do have bought into the fact that the strongest people should exploit the weaker people, and that if the lower classes know what is good for them, they will either be shut up or be shutup. Isis revive atrocities that should have been lond dead, and yet they attract more followers every day. Of Trump, little need be said, save that he is also reviving old old things that most Americans thought were left behind in the 20th century. Of Brexit, it says a lot that London voted against it, but that it's support are from "middle england" aka conservative England.

And these is the NOT so obvious link. The very people who democracy and liberalism was founded on reject it. The very people who were the "populists" are the very people championing the rich men who do not even pretend to put away the handcuffs and clubs, but instead promise more of it. The common people, so bereft of strength, see the fact that this person is a THUG as an asset, i.e. someone who will beat up other thugs, even if he is certain to beat up locals too.

It is easy to say "dammit those egghead liberal technocrat wonks screwed up again by not making the message clear." and yes, that it true, but the real horror is that the so called "common man" the person upon whom the idea of free,liberal governments were made, has shown themselves as corrupt, and therefor, willing to promote corruption. This means that the demogouges are on the rise.