My Dear Friend of Democracy,
How do you recognise a populist? And how the opposite of a populist?
You recognise populists by the fact that they want to pit one against the other. Locals against foreigners. Rich against the poor. Black against white.
The power of populists in a democracy is based on a majority turning against a minority.
So, populists use democratic means to secure their power.
In that sense, democracy is turning against itself.
Many people think this is okay. They think something is democratically legitimate simply because the majority has decided.
Donald Trump is trying to legitimise all his current actions with this argument.
But he, and many others with him, is wrong.
Democracy is the power of the people. Of the entire people. Everyone should be able to follow their wishes. Majority decision-making is only a tool for those cases where a society MUST choose a SINGLE PATH. And when the question of which path to take is controversial. More money for defense or less? More investment in railway construction or less? And which route should be chosen? Questions like that.
However, where possible, in a democracy, everyone should be able to pursue their own path without others dictating their own. And where people's paths cross, these encounters should be for the benefit of all who meet there.
Human coexistence for the benefit of all. That is the goal of good democratic rules – and the opposite of what populists aim for.
While populists promise to make politics for some at the expense of others they speculate that there are enough people who believe that human coexistence is a zero-sum game. That always some live at the expense of others. Like in war. What some gain, others lose. And where there is no war, there are at least deals. The better the negotiating power, the more can be gained, while others have to give up.
All populists act like this. Telling the story of us or the others. Of us against the others.
Trump, too, of course, is telling that story.
And he will be successful as long as the majority believes that human coexistence is such a zero-sum game. And not what we have known, at least since Adam Smith, the founder of economics, that we create the most prosperity when the advantage of one is also the advantage of the other.
This applies to small and large things. The likelihood of a happy marriage increases when both partners choose it voluntarily. The prosperity of two countries increases when they are allowed to trade with each other. Without interferences. They grow together because they benefit from each other. This also prevents countries from waging war against each other.
A quote from Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1992, sums up this view well. He said that after the fall of the Iron Curtain more than three decades ago. These days are a good time to remember him:
"Winners vs. losers – that's not how the new world order should be. Everybody should have their share of the winning side. In affirming the interests of others lies a chance for oneself."
See you in Democracy,
Johannes Eber
Great Quote!