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1. Adam (inkslinger@mastodon.club)'s status on Saturday, 21-Apr-2018 21:29:48 EDT Adam

   I understand why some people are pushing back against the idea of populism, given that the word has been sullied by the likes of Donald Trump and is assumed to be inherently reactionary. But to go an extra step and say that too much democracy is a bad thing, and that we should give more power to established political parties and politic elites is no less reactionary than the very thing they're trying to battles against.

   1. Adam (inkslinger@mastodon.club)'s status on Saturday, 21-Apr-2018 21:33:08 EDT Adam

      in reply to

      The idea that we can't trust people to vote for what's in their own best interests and that we need elites to act as a filter is, well, elitist. It assumes most people are not only ignorant, but incapable of learning. In fact, the system as it's currently designed is intended to keep most people largely ignorant about politics. That doesn't mean more democracy would be bad. It means the democracy we have now is limited and people need to the time and opportunity to educate themselves.

      1. Adam (inkslinger@mastodon.club)'s status on Saturday, 21-Apr-2018 21:34:36 EDT Adam

         in reply to

         Improve people's material conditions, allow them more freedom from work and they'll be able to educate themselves about the issues of the day and engage in more direct forms of democracy. Not everyone will be interested, but more people would be active citizens if they didn't feel crushed by long hours at their jobs or struggling just to make ends meet.

         1. Adam (inkslinger@mastodon.club)'s status on Saturday, 21-Apr-2018 21:36:09 EDT Adam

            in reply to

            We don't need to keep politics a thing for the elites. We need to help everyone have more of what the elites have: time, money and education to be active citizens.

            Make everyone an elite (an inherent contradiction, I know) and maybe our democracy will be better and more people will work in the interest of all, rather than a few people working in their own interests at the expense of everyone else.