The political turmoil in the West is reaching epic proportions as nation after nation faces what can only be called an uprising of public discontent. The disconnect between what the people desire and their opinions on specific issues and what their governments are offering is staggering.
The traditional go-to source to figure out what people are thinking about the specific issues—opinion polls—are themselves highly questionable. The polling conducted on both the UK vote to leave the European Union and on the US presidential election was far off the mark. But, even now, for example, it seems that you can find a poll that shows a plurality of public support for both sides of every issue, depending on which organization is doing the survey.
However, there is no disputing that the “status quo” political candidates are looking at the potential of major defeats in upcoming elections through the end of 2017 and into 2018. In France Marine Le Pen is now a serious contender for the French presidency, from being a fringe candidate only months ago. Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has pledged to close the Netherlands’ borders, shut down mosques and leave the euro and European Union if he gets into power, is now expected to win next month’s election.
The leap of the people not “liking” their elected officials to not “trusting” their politicians is critically important. In a survey conducted at the end of 2015, only 19 percent of Americans said they trusted the government “always or most of the time”. This is down from 78 percent in 1965 and 52 percent in 2003. Further, three out of four—74 percent —say public officials put their own interests ahead of the nation’s.
No leader, whether of the smallest company in the private sector to the largest countries, can effectively govern under those conditions. Yet, there has been a strong and long-term trend for politicians to demand more and more power be put in the hands of the government. Further, the power of the government is for sale to the highest bidder.
For example, US banks and Wall Street firms have been repeatedly bailed out from financial collapse using public funds, and these were done for the “public interest”. But in 2015, bonuses for Wall Street executives—not regular compensation—totaled $29.4 billion. In comparison, the total compensation paid to every American who makes the minimum wage totaled $14 billion. Speaker of the British Parliament, John Bercow, charged taxpayers the Philippine peso equivalent of P10,743 for a 1-kilometer trip using an official car and driver. A taxi would have cost P250.
And the politicians persist in believing that the people are foolish enough to allow this corruption to continue.
Politicians and many pundits are whining about how the people could possibly elect candidates like Donald J. Trump and Rodrigo Duterte. The current leading candidate for German Prime Minister is Martin Schulz, a man who never went beyond high school. The largest opposition party in Italy is the Five-Star Movement founded by popular comedian and blogger Beppe Grillo.
Given a choice between the corrupt practices of “more of the same” and possible change for the better, the people are choosing the latter. For the first time in recent memory, people are choosing the “devil” they don’t know rather than the “devil” they do know.
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