After my father retired, one of his past-times was to head to the coffee shop, meet with other fellows his age, and complain about politics. They called themselves the Senators — even though none of them ever had a public office.
And that’s the trouble: too many people think being in government is easy: just get elected and do what you were elected to do. In a way Rush Limbaugh was catering to an audience that believed in this simplicity.
And the election of Donald Trump fuels this belief. Anyone can be in government! It is just easy.
Of course the real world is much more complex — and simple solutions made by simple people just don’t work out that well.
In his book “Why Democracy Failed”, Medium contributor Allan Lees made a rather profound conclusion: 86% of voters really don’t understand the issues enough to vote wisely. The political parties go after the votes of the 86% rather than 14% that know better. Hence simplicity overrides reality.
If we don’t like this arrangement, then we need to start considering alternatives to western democracy.
