MISLED BY ‘DEMOCRACY’
It’s the end of 2019, and the time for much to start anew.
Taking stock of developments in the first two decades of the 21st century, we are alerted to startling developments in the world order, in politics within countries and in regions and, while we find a renaissance of new practical and applied sciences, the world witnesses global warming and human incapacities to stem negative impacts.
Does democracy actually have any more significance in countries like France and United States which, since the end of the 17th century, seemed to light the way for politics and political dialogues within nations?
We thought that we saw the triumph of democracy over communism and totalitarianism when the USSR collapsed and the free market economy seemed to be moving China more towards Western economies in terms of practices and growth factors. How misled we feel.
Democratic free market economies which grew so fast also showed a weaknesses in the market mechanism and lack of financial discipline. The results clearly indicate that not only have they failed, but their recourse to failure has been to unleash protectionist policies on national labour markets and migration, the very factors which helped them swell their banks with profits.
Something doesn’t quite stick with the theories of economics today. All energies are directed towards money accumulation instead of value creation, the very essence of what Adam Smith proposed in his economic theories and visions.
And with that, the world witnesses an erosion of values, the very impetus which created the world in which we live today.
Throw into the mayhem the callousness of some world leaders towards the environment and attendant human rights, and what we are left with is what WB Yates, the great Irish poet in his work The Second Coming, lamented: “Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.”
In anticipation of the year 2020, we all need to engage in introspection, and hold together in our resolve to make a new start. Or would we prefer fin de cycle? Happy New Year!
Glen Chatelier