Review of In Defence of Democracy by Patrick West
The Brexit vote to leave the European Union and the ascent of Donald Trump to the presidency, both in 2016, are often seen in context of each other. Both are deemed to represent a populist revolt of the ordinary man against the “liberal elite”. And both have elicited a similar response from this liberal elite: that the hoi polloi didn’t really know what they were voting for, and had thus made the “wrong” decision.
To prevent such “wrong” decisions happening again, voices in the liberal elite have argued that the populace needs better education on pertinent matters, or else those deemed (by them) unqualified to vote shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Only those with mature opinions should decide who should govern us.
Read the full article at the Catholic Herald
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