The biggest challenge to democracy, however, comes neither from above nor below but from within—from the voters themselves.
Plato’s great worry about democracy, that citizens would “live from day to day, indulging the pleasure of the moment”, has proved prescient.
Democratic governments got into the habit of running big structural deficits as a matter of course, borrowing to give voters what they wanted in the short term, while neglecting long-term investment.
France and Italy have not balanced their budgets for more than 30 years.
The financial crisis starkly exposed the unsustainability of such debt-financed democracy.
With the post-crisis stimulus winding down, politicians must now confront the difficult trade-offs they avoided during years of steady growth and easy credit.
But persuading voters to adapt to a new age of austerity will not prove popular at the ballot box.
.......................
this competition is taking place as Western populations are ageing. Older people have always been better at getting their voices heard than younger ones, voting in greater numbers and organising pressure groups like America’s mighty AARP. They will increasingly have absolute numbers on their side. Many democracies now face a fight between past and future, between inherited entitlements and future investment.
Adjusting to hard times will be made even more difficult by a growing cynicism towards politics.
............... Voter turnout is falling, too
A survey of seven European countries in 2012 found that more than half of voters “had no trust in government” whatsoever.
A YouGov opinion poll of British voters in the same year found that 62% of those polled agreed that “politicians tell lies all the time”.
..........................................
democracies in the emerging world have encountered the same problems as those in the rich world. They too have overindulged in short-term spending rather than long-term investment. Brazil allows public-sector workers to retire at 53
....................................
The best way to constrain the power of special interests is to limit the number of goodies that the state can hand out.
And the best way to address popular disillusion towards politicians is to reduce the number of promises they can make.
The key to a healthier democracy, in short, is a narrower state—an idea that dates back to the American revolution.
“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men”, Madison argued, “the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
.............. The relentless expansion of government is reducing liberty and handing ever more power to special interests.
.................... government’s habit of making promises that it cannot fulfil, either by creating entitlements it cannot pay for or by waging wars that it cannot win, such as that on drugs.
http://www.economist.com/news/essays...what-can-be-do
Plato’s great worry about democracy, that citizens would “live from day to day, indulging the pleasure of the moment”, has proved prescient.
Democratic governments got into the habit of running big structural deficits as a matter of course, borrowing to give voters what they wanted in the short term, while neglecting long-term investment.
France and Italy have not balanced their budgets for more than 30 years.
The financial crisis starkly exposed the unsustainability of such debt-financed democracy.
With the post-crisis stimulus winding down, politicians must now confront the difficult trade-offs they avoided during years of steady growth and easy credit.
But persuading voters to adapt to a new age of austerity will not prove popular at the ballot box.
.......................
this competition is taking place as Western populations are ageing. Older people have always been better at getting their voices heard than younger ones, voting in greater numbers and organising pressure groups like America’s mighty AARP. They will increasingly have absolute numbers on their side. Many democracies now face a fight between past and future, between inherited entitlements and future investment.
Adjusting to hard times will be made even more difficult by a growing cynicism towards politics.
............... Voter turnout is falling, too
A survey of seven European countries in 2012 found that more than half of voters “had no trust in government” whatsoever.
A YouGov opinion poll of British voters in the same year found that 62% of those polled agreed that “politicians tell lies all the time”.
..........................................
democracies in the emerging world have encountered the same problems as those in the rich world. They too have overindulged in short-term spending rather than long-term investment. Brazil allows public-sector workers to retire at 53
....................................
The best way to constrain the power of special interests is to limit the number of goodies that the state can hand out.
And the best way to address popular disillusion towards politicians is to reduce the number of promises they can make.
The key to a healthier democracy, in short, is a narrower state—an idea that dates back to the American revolution.
“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men”, Madison argued, “the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
.............. The relentless expansion of government is reducing liberty and handing ever more power to special interests.
.................... government’s habit of making promises that it cannot fulfil, either by creating entitlements it cannot pay for or by waging wars that it cannot win, such as that on drugs.
http://www.economist.com/news/essays...what-can-be-do
Comment