Atrios comments on the elite anti-democratic impulse.
Of course, this impulse is troubling, but the argument this LAT contributer shouldn't be ignored. Yes, people disagree about about stuff, and in the United States, these disagreements make us less one big happy family.
Meanwhile, we are seeing an international trend where minority groups within larger nation-states are breaking away and declaring their independance, a process called Balkination.
So, here's my unifying idea: democracy and the principle of popular sovereignty has been the most pervasive idea to come out of the 20th century. However, because reaching consensus across large and diverse populations is difficult, this has created downward pressure on the state--forcing states to base sovereignty on smaller and smaller populations. Could Balkanization, driven by our ideas about self-rule, be the driving force of the 21st century?
Read More