Why the elites fear democracy – spiked
That s certainly the vibe you get from a recent piece in Foreign Policy, horrified that right-wing populism is set to sweep the West in 2024 and thus be a disaster for liberal democracy . Will it, though? Some right-wing upstarts certainly have illiberal tendencies, some are genuinely disreputable, but no viable contender for power in the West is campaigning to junk the franchise or the rule of law. Electorally, it s a non-starter. They couldn t achieve it even if they wanted to.
Instead, they are positioning themselves as the only ones willing to court ordinary, working-class people to countenance their supposedly deplorable concerns about borders, sovereignty, multiculturalism and wokeism. And this has been made incredibly easy for them by an aloof establishment and disoriented left who continue to patronise voters even as they ask for their votes.
Tom Slater