by José Niño
Mises.org
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan once remarked that ”[d]emocracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.” Say what you want about the Turkish president and his extravagant political ambitions, but Erdogan’s statement reveals an uncomfortable truth about the present state of democracy in the West.
Irrespective of the political system, be it so-called liberal democracies or the managed democracy Mr. Erdogan presides over, democracy functions as just one of many tools in a ruling class’s toolbox to control their subjects. Even in America, where citizens are constantly reminded, from their high school civics classes all the way to TV broadsides, that democracy is what makes America exceptional among countries, democracy is cynically exploited to advance certain political agendas.
Technocratic administrators frequently pay lip service to democratic values while appearing on TV or during their lucrative speaking tours, but when pitted in the arena of real-world politics, they will quickly change their tune.