#covid19aus #auspol representative democracy works if political representatives operate within a web of…
#covid19aus #auspol representative democracy works if political representatives operate within a web of public institutions that embed the expertise accumulated over generations. Watch Yes Minister, the show is all about that web. If that web breaks, you get NSW right now. /1 https://t.co/xyUFPA7qrM
When the web of expertise that actually does 99% of the daily running of a State is sidelined or destroyed, all that is left is the representative. This is lethally dangerous, because it’s like the Minister heading off without advice or expertise to pursue his own fantasies. /2
The public only see the Minster, they’re often even not aware the web exists. This is populism, a public focused only on the representatives, drunk with the illusion they’re running the State. They will back their favourite, in exactly the way they back a football team. /3
The analogy is exact, because notice that people will follow a football team across multiple generations, even if it has a long history of never succeeding. NSW now and the US and UK under Trump and Johnson perfect examples. /4
Unswerving allegiance to the team, irrespective of how incompetent or destructive they are. People who understand the pandemic situation in NSW know drastic change is needed. The unswerving Gladdies pay not attention to details, just their team. /5
And so, as with climate change, populism (which libertarians have piggybacked a ride on - it will eventually consume them as well, as Trump consumed the GOP) is destroying our societies. It’s the cause of the pandemic and climate change. Whole societies…/6
…divorced from the basic realities of the situations they face. Focused daily on the battle between their teams, a complete sideshow. Twitter shows this every day, it’s Morrison this, Gladys that. We don’t need new or better leaders, we need our institutions…/7
…to be allowed to function again. For CHOs to be allowed to run a pandemic response, without political interference. For expertise to operate, accumulating wisdom over generations. We see the Chinese as ‘authoritarian’, but what we see there is strong institutions. Despite…/8
…the cronyism and weaknesses in Chinese governance, they simply don’t tolerate individual freeloading over custom and tradition. They graduate more engineers than we have espresso coffees. They build things, with multi-generational time perspectives. Contrast this with…/9
…the idiot 3-year populist cycles of Western democracies now, flailing in the face of existential threats, or even basic work like renewing social infrastructure. Infected with ludicrous libertarian ‘let them eat cake’ fantasies, believing the important thing is…/10
…our ‘freedom’ to live how we choose, totally divorced from the logistical, practical work of how those freedoms are generated and maintained. Through our institutions, themselves just multi-generational expertise embedded in process and procedure. How did this happen? /11
It’s what happens to most privileged peoples. They live for so long without any serious existential challenge that they forget about the basic hard work of peace and prosperity and health. They assume that’s the default state, rather than the engineered state. /end