Economy Drives Masses' Revolt

By Henry Srebrnik, [Saint John, NB] Telegraph-Journal

Do we in the West live under an “expertocracy?” It’s an explanation for the recent rise of populism that deserves greater circulation.

One proponent of the theory is Salvatore Babones, an American sociologist who teaches at the University of Sydney in Australia, and writes a weekly column and contributes to progressive websites and newsletters.

He argues that democracy has been undermined by what he considers a quiet but devastating power grab conducted by a class of liberal experts.

So the election of Donald Trump in the United States and the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom have caused fear and panic among liberals worldwide – and they are doing their damnedest to undo both, by trying to impeach Trump and calling for a second referendum on Brexit that would get it “right.”

In his new book The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism and the Tyranny of Experts, Babones asserts that these political elites have advanced a global agenda which has tilted the balance away from the unpredictability of democratic decision-making toward the technocratic authority of liberal consensus.

This is, he contends, the insidious “new authoritarianism” of the expert class. And it is one that basically benefits the cosmopolitan global capitalist order.

We don’t have to look far to test his hypothesis. What the elites denigrate as “populism” is indeed a revolt of the masses.

When institutions fall short, as they have done from Brazil to Italy, voters can grow skeptical of the entire idea of accruing power to bureaucrats and elites who have failed them in ways that highlight the gap between the ultra-rich and the rest.

This has, so far, remained confined to the electoral arena. However, the current uprising against the ultimate technocrat, French President Emmanuel Macron, is an indication that matters might move in a more violent direction.

Less than a month ago, this conceited man was the flag-bearer for globalism. Speaking at the Arc de Triomphe, he declared nationalism the “betrayal” of patriotism.

But now, tear gas and cobblestones have engulfed the same part of Paris, as protesters demanded Macron’s embattled government withdraw a proposed fuel-tax increase.

“In 2008 the capitalist system imploded on a scale not seen since 1929. We are still living with the staggering cost,” writes Oxford economist Paul Collier in a recent issue of the Times Literary Supplement.

And what was the response? A gigantic bailout for the wealthy, at the expense of everyone else.

And don’t think the rest of society doesn’t know that, despite statistics showing low unemployment and “booming” economies.

Here’s a statistic that goes some way to debunking such “sunshine stories” (as the British used to term such propaganda): We are now a decade past the beginning of the crisis, and income per worker in the U.S. has risen only 7.5 per cent, according to economist J. Bradford DeLong of the University of California at Berkeley.

By contrast, income per worker rose 10.5 percent in the 11 years following the 1929 stock-market crash.

And we wonder where discontent comes from? Whether on the far-left or the far-right, populist parties re tapping into a real dissatisfaction. What, besides lectures, will the centre give in response?