I fell about laughing at the mention of "the democratic establishment". The whole point of the Establishment is that it is not democratic, has never intended to be democratic, and is currently dismantling the token concessions it made to democracy during the 20th century.



Where this article (in common with most Establishment apologia) goes completely wrong is in its failure to recognise that the Modern Era - culminating in the 20th Century - was an historical anomaly, an aberration, an eddy in the current of history.



If we look at the broad sweep of human history we see an entirely different picture of what is going on: the "refeudalisation" of society.



Stripped of its ephemera, human history from the Agricultural Revolution - when surpluses first became available - up until the industrial era was a story of psychopaths competing (sometimes collaborating) to attain positions of power, then using that power to dominate and brutalise their fellow human beings. We know from the historical record that such brutal individuals felt no remorse whatever in wasting the lives of thousand – even millions – of “their” Subjects.



If that behaviour seemed to moderate in the Modern Era, it was not because homo sapiens psychology had evolved. It was just that the demands of the industrial economy made it expedient – for a time – for the Rulers to make certain concessions to their Subjects.



The industrial state required the training of large numbers of Subjects to operate the complex – but not fully automated – machinery of industrial production. Having had so much invested in them, Subjects had value and their bargaining power relative to their Rulers improved. In the extreme, they could withdraw their labour and quickly impose greater costs on the owners of capital than they themselves suffered. Under such conditions, the optimal strategy for Rulers (only after they had tried violent suppression and found it ineffective!) was to make certain limited concession to their Subjects.



Thus we had the quintessential ideals of the 20th century:



a) egalitarianism, the ideal that all people are entitled to the same basic opportunities irrespective of their ancestry;



b) democratisation, the ideal that Subjects are entitled to have some say in how they are governed; and



c) self-determination, the ideal that self-identifying communities are allowed to choose for themselves how they will govern themselves.



But these concessions didn’t mean that the psychopaths had gone away. The snakes have been there all the time. And there was never anything to say that the conditions of industrial production must last forever.



What we are actually witnessing now is the Elite’s response to the POST-industrial world, the world of AI and robotics.



No longer are large numbers of Subjects required to run complex – but not fully automated – machinery. Now it is small numbers of very highly trained technicians required to manage the robotic workforce. Small in number, they can easily be bought off. The IT technicians are the Praetorian Guard of the new regime.



As for the rest of humanity, they are now redundant, or soon will be. Their Rulers no longer need them. The concessions made previously are “inoperative”.



And the Elite are responding precisely as you would imagine a self-serving Elite to respond. They are relentlessly winding back any concessions hitherto made, while their economic theologians are busy trying to justify it as being for the “Greater Good”.



Inequality is quickly returning to its historical norm, as Piketty has documented. We are returning to a feudal state in which property is owned by the magnates and everyone else is a defenceless serf.



Even the critical technicians are transformed into obedient indentured workers through the weapon of crippling student debt. If ever they are to get out from under, they must do as they're told.



As for democratisation, in most countries it never developed beyond "elective" government dominated by Elite parties. Moneyed interests and well-organised pressure groups have found it a trivial exercise to subvert it.



And to entrench their gains, they are taking ever more critical decisions out of the hands even of elective government: the privatisation of strategic monopolies and essential services means that elected politicians are forced negotiate with private magnates, on terms dictated by the private magnates. The alienation of taxes to private tax farms (such as road tolling monopolies) is a throwback to the Ferme Generale of the ancien regime.



And finally, self-determination has been eroded by the growth of opaque and unaccountable supranational organisations (like the EU) and so-called “trade” agreements (which actually have little to do with trade and everything to do with taking decisions out of the hands of national governments and giving them to unelected and unaccountable panels of the Elite).



This is only going to get worse. At some point, the Elite will decide that the continued existence of masses of redundant human beings is a threat to their own security.



Already, we have seen the recent unveiling of weaponised robotic “security guards” with rudimentary AI. That technology isn’t going to go away.



You don’t need to be Einstein to see how this game will play itself out. The most plausible scenarios do not support a happy ending for the mass of human beings.



The "populism" which the writer of this article so obviously detests is nothing more than The People engaging in a last stand to forestall the horror that is descending upon them. It is a desperate game that must be fought on a battlefield chosen by the Elite themselves.



Realistically, the chances of success are remote. Realistically, the future is grim.



There is – perhaps – still a tiny window of opportunity to forestall this holocaust, but it is closing rapidly. As the Elite re-consolidate their power it will become ever more difficult for the Subjects to do anything about it.



The only hope for most of the human race is to fight for Democracy. Fight for the institutional changes which will make politicians truly accountable to the People.



Before it is too late.

