Western democracy is indeed an interesting social engineering tool. It is amazing how it not only holds a society together, but allows a lot more opportunity and prosperity than “all those other systems that have been tried from time to time.”
I spent six years in a political party — and I experienced a lot of dysfunction in that party. On the outside, we were seemingly united to present our case to the public to earn their votes. On the inside, we were a bunch of jackals climbing over each other to earn as high a place as possible within the party. This dysfunction spills into government, then into society.
Seldom do things stay the same. Everything evolves; sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. The election of Mr. Trump and a few other authoritarian types around the world does not bode well for democracy. While I don’t think Mr. Trump can pull off a coup, the next populist leader in the USA just might figure things out.
So I think Mr. Asimov’s predictions are very possible. I saw first-hand how the soil is getting too soaked, which will eventually lead to a mudslide.
In my final days of politics, I somehow figured out a new way to cast aside all the dysfunction I was seeing. To be brief, we need to cast aside the institution of the political party. But this new way also requires a few other tools.
I invite you to inspect this new way.
