The Washington Post got its motto wrong. Introduced in 2017 after Trump’s election, “Democracy dies in darkness” purports to explain both the problem and the cure in an age of “populist” politics. The people, it suggests, the great mass of the uneducated “deplorables”, don’t know what they’re voting for – both because they’re stupid, and because “demagogues” like Trump have “lied” to them. So here comes WaPo to shine a light into this whole nasty, dark world of the revolt against the establishment, to provide the “correct” view of the world – and thus save democracy.
But, aside from being self-serving in its self-righteous signalling, the Post’s slogan is false. What is really killing democracy is not the sophistry of demagogues on all sides, or the lies, the fake news and the propaganda. These have been part of politics since its ancient beginnings. No, the agent of “democratic death” in our modern age, executing its lethal purpose slowly but surely, is political impunity.
Systemic impunity of the political establishment is the fundamental reason why democracy is dying almost everywhere. In plain terms, this phenomenon refers to the fact that the main establishment parties – usually falling under “centre-right” and “centre-left” labels – are never fully swiped off the political stage no matter how big their failures. Think of the most expensive and outrageous disasters in recent history, from the 2008 financial crisis to the enormities seen during Covid-19, from the socio-cultural devastation to the deliberate flooding of the West with migrants. Yes, governments have changed, “populists” have gained in the polls. But the so-called mainstream forces always cling to power, or at the very least retain enough representation in national parliaments to perpetuate the Ancien Regime and the thinking of its elites – even when “populists” do end up running the country for a short while.
