"A DEMOCRATIC society in its thirst for liberty may fall under the influence of bad leaders" worried Plato who also feared that "popular acclaim will attend on the man who tells the people what they want to hear rather than what truly benefits them." These worries seem all the more pertinent today, as a quarter to a third of the electorate in many countries seems willing to lend support to candidates from out of the mainstream.
The problem is not so much that such candidates have new ideas, but that they are dangerously simplistic. The journalist HL Mencken remarked that "For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong." The idea may be building a wall on America's southern (or even northern) border; it might be raising £120 billion in "missing" tax revenues; it might be "getting a better deal" with Iran on nuclear inspections; it might be rejecting austerity for Greece while simultaneously staying in the euro.
When mainstream politicians respond to these ideas,...Continue reading
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