Quo Vadis, "Democracy"?

This explains a lot.

Italian political scientist Gaetano Mosca theorized in The Ruling Class (1896) that democracy’s much-vaunted ’consent of the governed’ was impossible. In support of his theory, Mosca pointed out a mundane but often-overlooked historical fact: well-organized minorities have always and everywhere wound up ruling over disorganized majorities. There has never been an exception in any complex society, whether one is speaking of aristocracies, monarchies, theocracies, oligarchies, ancient democracies and republics, or modern liberal democracies. A hardworking, ambitious, well-connected political class distinct from the populace always emerges, perpetuates itself, and exercises power for its own benefit under a variety of excuses and pretexts, whether ‘noble heritage,’ ‘divine right,’ ‘mandate of the voters,’ or lately, ‘Because we went to Harvard.’...

The natural evolution of 'Democracy' to 'Totalitarianism' (for that's what it is) as described by Mosca has arrived on the shores of America; in fact, it's been here since at least the early 1940's, if one is to believe James Burnham.  But by using the word "democracy," the Ruling Class has been painting lipstick on the pig for decades.

But there isn't enough lipstick any more.

...'Democracy Itself' idealism in a succession of liberal and neo-conservative American administrations resulted in dumb and unimaginably costly mistakes—mistakes that have eroded the United States’ moral credit with large sections of the world.

Predictably, the fanaticism has finally boomeranged onto America’s own citizenry, as liberal journalist and free-speech advocate Glenn Greenwald describes in his incendiary article “The New Domestic War on Terror is Coming“:...

Greenwald, a Lefty--but an honest one--is more than a little pessimistic.

...“The last two weeks have ushered in a wave of new domestic police powers and rhetoric in the name of fighting ‘terrorism’ that are carbon copies of many of the worst excesses of the first War on Terror that began nearly twenty years ago. This trend shows no sign of receding as we move farther from the January 6 Capitol riot … We have witnessed an orgy of censorship from Silicon Valley monopolies with calls for far more aggressive speech policing, a visibly militarized Washington, D.C. featuring a non-ironically named ‘Green Zone,’ vows from the incoming president and his key allies for a new anti-domestic terrorism bill, and frequent accusations of ‘sedition,’ ‘treason,’ and ‘terrorism’ against members of Congress and citizens … It is accompanied by viral-on-social-media pleas that one work with the FBI to turn in one’s fellow citizens (See Something, Say Something!) and demands for a new system of domestic surveillance.”...

Those 'calls for Snitches and censorship' are certainly not coming from the Right, and they were noticeable--if muted--as soon as Trump was inaugurated.   With Trump, they emerged as "Russian Collusion" claims.  What was significant about those lies were the sources:  CIA, FBI, NSA--all jam-packed with Ruling Class desk-jockeys who--frankly--were marshmallows; the Pajama Boys who Went to Harvard (Yale, Princeton, Georgetown......)

Why was Trump the target?  Because of his voters.

...at some point in the five years preceding the election of Donald Trump, tens of millions of conservatives changed. To say what exactly changed and why is the work of a detailed book, but suffice it to say, half of America flipped from ‘Benedictines’ to ‘Protestants.’ These new Trumpist conservatives decided that the runaway liberalism in liberal democracy had gone too far. They wanted old-school philosophical democracy again, not Democracy Itself’s latter-day corruption and reality-defying antics, such as the economic dislocations of state-sponsored globalism and its related illegal immigration; institutional affirmative discrimination in favor of racial and sexual minorities (now-established sacred cows in the faith of Democracy Itself); the ever-increasing power of unelected bureaucrats (the ‘Deep State’); and the sacrifice of their sons, daughters, and tax dollars to crusades flogging liberal democracy worldwide....

Frankly, it's not likely that Trump had a clue about how wide and deep the complaints really were; all he wanted to do was Build a Wall, cut FAIR international deals, and re-patriate jobs from Red China.  It took him nearly three years to grasp the breadth and depth of the real problem--which was the Ruling Class's ownership of Every.  Damn.  Thing.  in Mordor on the Potomac.

The author here, Alec Orrell, is not blowing sunshine up your nethers:

...The populace senses something on the horizon and is showing unequivocal signs of anxiety for their domestic tranquility, even as America’s elite political class pretends that the Biden administration has restored balance to the kingdom. Niccolò Machiavelli would not have been surprised, writing as he did that, “Not without good reason is the voice of the populace likened to that of God; for public opinion is remarkably accurate in its prognostications, so much so that it seems as if the populace by some hidden power discerned the evil and the good that was to befall it.”...

How does he know that?  Oh, I dunno.  Try buying a new gun.  Or ammo.  Go ahead.  We'll wait.