Modern societies developed a political machine to effect, amongst other things, the winning of political elections. Political parties were popular when they were based on discernable ideological orientations. For instance, socialists espoused very different policies than hardcore capitalists; hence, devotees routinely remained loyal to their respective political parties. In a genuine democracy both could present their differing point of views to the voting public. The one with the largest vote will take over state power, with a view to implement the advocated policies. Today, political parties are practically homogenized, at least when it comes to core values, particularly in economics. For better or worse, all countries are now preaching the ideologies/virtues of capitalism. Therefore, since there are no meaningful differences in the economic policies of the various contending political parties, the sheeple (human mass) gradually lost interest in the recurrent political contestations!
Since the demise of the USSR and the ascendance of capitalism in China, the world became a huge homogenized economic entity under core capitalist tenets. Institutions of economic governance that were set up after WWII took charge of the whole global economic regime after 1989. The World Bank, IMF, WTO, ECB, etc., etc., became the enforcing agencies of neoliberalism in each and every country of the world system. These institutions can and actually do undermine economic and other policies of individual nation-states. As a result, countries were left with a rather superficial capacity of policy making, particularly in the sphere of economic management. The various political parties of countries became subservient to the whims of the deep state, which controls almost everything in our modern world system. We have defined the deep state as; the military-intelligence-industrial-banking-media-complex of the powerful western states, collectively called Empire. The overall outcome: political parties were rendered toothless, to say the least, and voters became apathetic and disillusioned about the cyclical theatrics of elections. At the same time, instead of fighting it out with the deep states, national political parties surrendered their prerogative and became mere appendages of the global status quo/deep state. They are now reaping what they sow!
Today in our modern world system, the economic sphere dominates all aspects of human lives, literally! If this socio-economic regime is not negotiated and managed properly, from the point of view of the sheeple, consequences can be very disruptive. A preview of this is what prevails in many countries of the world today. For example, traditional political parties in the west, which have been under the thumb of the deep state for a long time, are now in big trouble. Characteristically, they still don’t seem to get it! It is clear the sheeple is increasingly going its own separate ways, outside of the usual ambit of the parties. But the parties are not trying to address the root causes, instead they are preoccupied only with symptoms. Brexit and Trumpism are two manifestations of political dissonance within the Anglo world. Spain, Greece, France, Italy, et al, seem to have thrown out their old guards along with their old political parties from viable political engagements. These countries and many others in central and eastern Europe are electing outsiders to political offices. The old ones have proved impotent in the face of complex calamity threatening human societies. The ongoing panacea, it seems, is to elect anyone not in politics. To this end, we now have comics in Italy (Grillo) and in Ukraine (pending a run off) at the top of the political pyramid. Slovakia has elected its youngest president ever (45 years). She is also the first woman to be elected. She is a former activist and a lawyer who is regarded as an outsider, a sort of political novice. It seems this is going to be the trend all over the world, if conditions allow!
The French sheeple, having exhausted the old electoral routes, finally gave up on Monsieur Marcon as well. It has now decided to go its own unconventional ways. The French have started to do ‘Yellow Vesting’ on Saturdays all over the country. This has been going on for about six months. The French have also realized that such movements cannot afford to have conspicuous leaders, as they will be eliminated from the scene by the ‘deep state.’ So far, they have been neglected by the mainstream media (part of the deep state) and are only portrayed as afterthoughts as mere outliers to the system with no meaningful impact as well as objectives. Nonetheless, the reality is; the ‘yellow vests’ are actually demanding a whole lot from the existing regime. They want to change democratic rule from being, mostly a proxy affair, to a direct one. They want ‘direct democracy’! They want to have direct say about important matters that concern their lives and do not want to go through deputations, i.e., political parties and professional politicos representing their desires/positions. Naturally, the deep state is not going to concede to this and will fight tooth and nail to discredit the ‘yellow vests’. Modern informatics (mobile phone, personal computers, etc.) can certainly help facilitate ‘direct democracy’, if applied diligently and honestly. Since such an empowerment of the sheeple can undermine the power of the deep state, direct democracy might not be allowed. The French sheeple has to fight for it, yet again, just as it did in 1789!
Here is an old American writer on the virtue of electioneering: “Vote: the instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” Ambrose Bierce. Good Day!