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A review by brianlokker
The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It by Yascha Mounk
5.0
This is a timely and important book that is well worth reading for anyone who cares about preserving liberal democracy as the best form of government yet devised. I can't begin to do justice to Mounk's analysis and arguments here, so I'm offering just a few snippets.
Mounk suggests that the conditions that fostered liberal democracy, including steady improvements in the standard of living, relatively homogeneous populations, and control of mass communications by the establishment, have all eroded. Populist movements promise simple answers to some of the issues presented by this new social and economic order. But ultimately, they are often dangerous to liberal democracy, as they are prone to devolve into "democracy without rights," autocracy, or even dictatorship. Even the United States has shown itself susceptible to the lure of this dangerous populism with the election of Donald Trump as President.
Mounk proposes various remedies to preserve liberal democracy. For one thing, he argues that it's critical to restore the primacy of civic education. He quotes James Madison's advice that democratic self-rule requires knowledgeable citizens. "His fears about what would happen to America if it neglected this crucial task sound oddly apposite today: 'a popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.'" Apposite indeed.
Mounk suggests that the conditions that fostered liberal democracy, including steady improvements in the standard of living, relatively homogeneous populations, and control of mass communications by the establishment, have all eroded. Populist movements promise simple answers to some of the issues presented by this new social and economic order. But ultimately, they are often dangerous to liberal democracy, as they are prone to devolve into "democracy without rights," autocracy, or even dictatorship. Even the United States has shown itself susceptible to the lure of this dangerous populism with the election of Donald Trump as President.
Mounk proposes various remedies to preserve liberal democracy. For one thing, he argues that it's critical to restore the primacy of civic education. He quotes James Madison's advice that democratic self-rule requires knowledgeable citizens. "His fears about what would happen to America if it neglected this crucial task sound oddly apposite today: 'a popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.'" Apposite indeed.