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On 2016-05-06 23:27, spike wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<span
style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">After
pondering my own question, I fear we did this us.<o:p></o:p></span>
<p><span
style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Why
doesn’t this sort of catastrophe ever happen to the saner
nations, such as, like, Britain or Germany?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Oh
wait, back up one. It did happen once in Germany. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span
style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">OK
then, Britain. Why don’t the Brits ever find themselves in
a spot where their two major parties nominate odious
characters, then somehow convince themselves only those two
parties can ever matter forever and ever amen? And why did
this happen to us? And can we do anything?</span></p>
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<br>
Well, the Brits actually had a long-running Tory/Labour balance,
with the concept of having the governing party supported by one or
two small parties a weird hypothetical. Same in Sweden, where for
much of the postwar era it was a constellation of the social
democrats + leftists vs. the conservatives + two smaller parties.
But in both cases shifts in voting patterns made these balances
unstable. Shift happens.<br>
<br>
The real issue you are pointing at is the rise of populism. Right
now a lot of people in countries from Poland to Honduras are really
upset at (1) things changing in ways they do not like, and (2) the
political establishment being corrupt, inept or just behind it.
People flail about for somebody who will do things differently, and
that is why they elect naive leftists (Greece), comedians (Italy,
Guatemala), nasty conservatives (Poland) or vote for various
xenophobic parties (Sweden, Germany, etc.)<br>
<br>
However, vanilla populists are not the main threat. They are
know-nothings that will do damage of a particular style. It is the
authoritarians that I fear. The difference is that authoritarians
are populists that claim (1) they have the solution, the only
solution, (2) outside epistemic standards are irrelevant, and (3)
the solution involves following their dictates. Once they get into
power dissent becomes threats to the government and all the good
things it intends, so it must be suppressed by all right-thinking
people. They are the ones that close societies. <br>
<br>
My suggestion is that the key part is safeguarding the open society.
Help build solid legal and technical protections for journalists,
ensure that the judciary is independent, make sure name-and-shame
mechanisms and whistleblowing makes corruption and misuse of power
risky, spread a wider understanding of what the enlightenment
achieved, and so on. <br>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University</pre>
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