Democracy in Decay

This book seeks to show that the decay of democracy is a slow process, when decay means: neglecting democracy by taking it for granted, forgetting the struggles for democracy, political corruption, and disillusionment. The book seeks to make a break with the literature of plutocracy arguing that the concept of plutocracy creates the iron cage, when we cannot escape the world of elite rule. The study of history tells us that the impulses of democratic moments and elite moments ebb and flow. Experience shows that there are elite moments but also moments when democracy is in ascendance. Elites are not homogenous, but there are competing elites that are reflective of changing political social and economic landscapes. But there are fault lines that become difficult to bridge when fragmentation and polarization make listening and finding compromises difficult. These would include the concentration of wealth and increased income inequality, the financial crisis of 2008 and the loss of trust policy seeming in favor of the narrow interests of the financial markets rather than the public interest. Politicians are now more like the feudal barons far removed from their electoral seeking privileges of higher status and higher incomes. Finally, the cultural wars create further fragmentation and visions. Democracy seems to be in an overload of expectations. The formation of tribes and identities creating echo chambers. There is no space for compromise for listening to others or building bridges with the politically polarized other party.