How is it possible that overwhelmingly prevalent popular discontent does not translate into sweeping political change? How is it possible that millions of people, dismayed and angered by the actions of the ruling oligarchy, are prepared to vote for the same parties again?
Sometimes I come across an attempted explanation based on the fact that these people are simply stupid, brainwashed, etc. But mental failure can explain the actions of individuals. If millions of people are behaving seemingly irrationally, it means that there is some mechanism at work that we don’t understand.
I will try to contribute to such an explanation in today’s note. Without claiming to give a complete explanation, I will simply show one factor that plays a significant role.
The opposition to the oligarchy that rules in the West today consists of three groups that are so mentally different that it is very difficult, if not impossible, for them to work together except on the level of individual temporary projects. Viktor Orbán and Giorgia Meloni may vote together in a European dispute, but it is hard to imagine them working together in the same government or even in the same party.
The first layer of the opposition are those who reject some of the concrete steps promoted by the ruling oligarchy (free migration from Muslim countries, compulsory electro-mobility, transgender in primary schools, etc.) but at the same time are staunch supporters of the current political-economic set-up. Occasionally they also call for personnel changes, but only of the type that would replace Joe Biden with, say, Nikki Haley or Mike Pence. Overall, they think things are set up correctly; it is just that some specific measures need to be rejected. This view is sometimes supported by a section of the mainstream press. At the European level, Italian Prime Minister Meloni is such a politician.
Then there is the anti-system opposition.