The Progressives’ Liberal Democracy Has Failed. Radical Decentralization Is the Answer.
So-called liberal democracies have characterized the West for the past century and are viewed as the pinnacle of political development. So much so that Western elites are firmly convinced that this system of governance should be spread far and wide—be it indirectly (color revolutions) or directly (economic sanctions, kinetic military actions, or nation-building expeditions).
Liberal democracies are political systems in which people entrust political power to a political class that, at least on paper, is constitutionally limited when it comes to exercising political power. Further, liberal democracies are supposed to protect civil liberties and nominally respect private property rights.
What appears good to many on paper does not necessarily operate smoothly in real time. Upon further analysis of the past century of politics in the West, one quickly realizes that the previous laissez-faire classical liberal order of the nineteenth century has become an afterthought to the progressive liberals of today. Moreover, modern liberal democracy has become little more than a flimsy façade for soft authoritarianism. The illusion of liberal democracy has been completely shattered by the way Western governments have responded to the covid-19 pandemic.
Events in Canada, a country held in high esteem by progressives worldwide, have been revelatory in that regard. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to quell the Freedom Convoy protests showed the world that liberal democracy is not so “exceptional” and is just as susceptible to descending into petty despotism as any other political syste
Article from Mises Wire
