Do Elites have Responsibility

for Democracy?

 Today (21/10 2017) an article was published in the 

Swedish newspaper SvD 

 It was (my opinion) very well written and nuanced. 

 Enjoy the article here:

 Elites exit. It was the theme of a conference, which 

recently collected a selection of what could be called

 elite politicians, opinion makers, journalists and

 representatives of different organizations.

 So what was it about - who is leaving what?

 The fact that a significant proportion of citizens have  

felt that their dissatisfaction has not been satisfactorily 

acknowledged by the elites is the reason why the old 

left-right scale with its supporting pillars in the form  

of major social democratic and conservative parties, has

been challenged in many of western world's democracies.

 Of course, all parties are populist (one way or the other) 

- they say they want to represent the people, and rarely 

present inadequate and probably simple solutions to

complex problems.

 But unlike established parties, the newly arrived or 

transformed may argue that they are not burdened with elites 

- a competitive advantage that brought the Environment Party  

into the Swedish Parlament in 1988 and the Swedish Democrats 

in 2010. Emmanuel Macron's party La République En Marche is

another example; It was formed in 2016 - just a year later 

Macron took place as president of the Elysée Palace.

 Thus the people complain. With the space democracy allows,

they change the leaders of their country. Some citizens solve 

their perceived problems themselves through other exit 

strategies; collaborative security, burglar alarms and 

private health insurance.

 Others are looking for laws of alternative societies 

and norms. And the elites - what's up with them?

 We are finding ourselves in the midst of a dramatic shift where technology again drives new power structures born out of chaos.

 The last time this culminated was in 1789. However, in those days when the people literally ”cut the heads of power” it was only a crescendo on the real change in human life that the art of printing brought about; Words and science became available to the people - the real revolution behind it, which in the history books is called the French revolution.

 Nowadays that power no longer belongs to royal courts; but the present-day elites are equally disturbed by the forces put in motion by people they can not control. The Internet revolution is already evident in the loud noise outside their castles. In the elite (which I obviously belong to), we shine our powdered noses for vulgar and uncivilized expressions in social and alternative media.

 Yes, this is both addicted and simplified. But maybe with a grain of truth?

 The French Revolution was the culmination of a technological revolution that gave knowledge and enlightenment to the people.

 Because of the fact that the elite of the media was completely surprised after the British referendum and the US presidential election, the media obviously lacked the ability to see what was going on. They failed to move along with the people. While this was going on, we (the elites) were discussing how come the populistic parties suddenly entered parlaments across Europé?

 It is a problem for our civilisatiom when the elites can not see (other than possibly with contempt) the perspectives of those who live in the real world and who have completely different experiences of, for example, globalization, digitalization or immigration. And when the elites are exiting from their relationship with the people, whether it's a dismissal of public service, a failure of the laws of society, or a moralizing tone in the media, one should not be surprised if the people choose a different dissatisfaction strategy than loyalty.

 I am not suffering from dystopi, nor do I consider that the social development of society is predetermined. I think democracy can handle these challenges. But the elites that politics and journalism make up need to pass the tests they are now facing. They need to understand that they are elites and they need to accept the responsibility that follows.

 A good and trustworthy democratic society has to be based on the fact that there are elites and that you can feel respect for them.

 When you know that you can trust your officials, when the elites representing the law are color-blind and the elected politicans are not corrupt. When the news media reports objectively and are consequently neutral. That 's the responsibilty the elites have to live up to. The social system needs to be based on meritocracy and not on birth. It is the responsibility of the elites. If we as elites fail to protect these values, we deserve to be thrown out of the castle.

 Tove Lifvendahl is political editor-in-chief at SvD.

 Maybe you would also be interested in:

http://axiom1b.blogspot.se/2015/12/decadence-word-decadence-wikipedia.html 

 or join the  effort to create a better civilisation (use google translate) at:

https://www.duga.se/