Talk Elections

If you look around the world right now...well...

Discuss.

Liberal democratic values and all other values we hold dear, are never not under existential threat unless they are fiercely guarded.

Only the threat posed by A) its fundamental contradictions; and B) the attempts to impose it on various illiberal parts of society and the world. These two features appear the most salient in posing a major threat to Our Way of Life.

Yes. Liberal democracy has been in retreat since about 2005.

From the Russians and their accomplices in the alt right? Generally yes although I think we will ultimately defeat Moscow and their allied goons.  But it will take a lot of work to root out the traitors who align with Russia in their aims.

If you're referring to free and democratic elections, then no.  A wave of "fascist authoritarianism" is a lie.

No it isn't, the free press and institutions of most western countries are far too strong for any real threat to liberal democracy. The biggest threat probably comes from the ability of fake news to propagate itself through platforms like facebook, but even that is potentially overrated.

In any case, Trump and Brexit proving to be complete disasters will soon squish the rise of the far-right, as we can already see happening in Europe.

Not denying this is happening as I mainly haven't been paying attention, but where is it happening?

Liberal democracy is basically a buzz-phrase for neoliberal dogma at this point.

The far right recently lost a presidential election in Austria, they underperformed in the Dutch elections, UKIP suffered a major blow in UK local elections the day before yesterday, and the far right will almost certainly lose tomorrow in France.

The AfD also declined somewhat in opinion polls in Germany, but that's more due to ongoing internal power struggles.

In line with that, I've noticed the establishment right (finally) stealing the less problematic bits of the populist right platform, which will deflate them somewhat.

It's already been largely hollowed out by the rise of the Almighty Market, but yeah, worse may be yet to come.

Democracy as a whole is in danger, imo. The Institutions that are supposed to protect it have, thus far, failed miserably to do so.

Brexit freed Britain from bureaucrats in Brussels. Trump has awakened many.

Macron has triumphed! D66 has become second in the Netherlands. Centrism reigns in Luxembourg. LD is on the rise in the U. K., and the FDP will almost assuredly beat their last performance. On the contrary! Brexit and Trump have awakened centrism. You are now witnessing Centrism Strikes Back.

makes u think

The PVV have become second in the Netherlands.

Not really. The populist wave that's been taking place has still been within the bounds of liberal democracy, apart from countries that weren't really sold on liberal democracy in the first place (Russia, Turkey, etc.). It's not like 2016 has been filled with coups overthrowing elected governments.

There are a couple serious threats still that may lead to existential crises in the future if continue. The first is that peoples' faith in "the system" is dependent on the perception that the system is actually defending their interests, jobs, security, families, values, etc. If, whether due to social change, economic transition, or some other sort of unsettling factor, people no longer see "the system" as working for them but as being asked to work for "the system", then confidence in "the system" will be shaken from top to bottom.

The second is that those who view themselves as liberal democracy's most fervent defenders forget its premises in the silencing of their enemies. When decisions begin being made by mobs instead of at ballot boxes, countries can start a spiral toward mutual escalation. When "fascism" is simply whatever collection of views the beholder disagrees with, a loss of civility follows. People would prefer finding their concerns met by acceptable options, but if their concerns are washed out from the acceptable options, they will ultimately find other options who are willing to listen.