Category Archives: democracy

The revolt of the public and the “age of post-truth”

Posted on May 31, 2017 by

With Elites and With the Truth, It’s Complicated Three years ago I remarked that the public was engaged in a messy divorce from the elites who run the great institutions of the industrial age.  That bit of scandal is by … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, the public | 15 Comments

Cui bono, Donald Trump edition

Posted on March 7, 2017 by

I am a Donald Trump profiteer.  His baffling rise to high office sold a lot of copies of my book, The Revolt of the Public.  People were desperate for explanations, and I, as always, had several in hand.  Mind you, … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy | 4 Comments

2016: A hard rain

Posted on January 4, 2017 by

The Tipping-point of Revolt In 2016, a furious political tempest ravaged the democratic world.  Popular politicians – presidents and prime ministers – were toppled from on high and hurled into oblivion.  Exotic creatures, originating far from the old mainstream, were … Continue reading →

Posted in cataclysm, democracy, the public | 7 Comments

The news media: Surveying the wreckage

Posted on December 6, 2016 by

The Pretense of Objectivity The ideology of news makes two moral claims:  that it is complete, and that it is objective.  News, in other words, provides consumers with just the right amount of information necessary to function as citizens, and … Continue reading →

Posted in death of news, democracy, influence, newspaperss, the public, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

After the elections: The great unraveling

Posted on October 25, 2016 by

Candidates From the Lab We already know the most significant truth about the 2016 presidential elections:  that it is yet another brawl in the running global conflict between an alienated public and the institutions and elites that manage the established … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, the public, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Brief reflections on the Brexit vote

Posted on June 28, 2016 by

That the British vote to leave the European Union is a textbook example of the revolt of the public I take to be beyond dispute.  The Conservative prime minister strongly opposed the exit initiative, as did the Labour and Social … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, the public | 1 Comment

Democracy and dictatorship in a nihilistic age

Posted on May 24, 2016 by

The Malady of Our Time We stand on the threshold of a new age that refuses to become manifest.  It’s as if the geopolitical clock were stuck at a minute before midnight:  the old forms, the ideologies and institutions of … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, the public | 2 Comments