The future of liberal democracy is not set in stone, by Jennifer Oriel.
Political elites are desperately seeking legitimacy as their grip on power is forcibly relaxed by free world citizens who prefer grassroots government to supranational authority.
In reaction to the resurgence of the democratic spirit, liberal elites are tossing Newspeak at the plebs. Thus far, they have turned patriots into xenophobes, democrats into populists, conservatives into autocrats, free speech into hate speech and diversity into demagoguery. They have introduced state censorship to silence dissenters from correct ideology. They have funded NGOs that undermine pluralistic democracy by targeting activism against conservatives in politics.
They have denied equality before the law in favour of special rights for state-preferred minority groups. They have paved the way for a demographic revolution against liberty by promoting the intake of immigrants who don’t support freedom of speech or formal equality.
If liberal elites want to know why liberal democracy is dying, they should look in the mirror.
The battle over liberal democracy is between competing views about the centrality of the nation state system to the future of the free world. In public statements, Soros has made clear his dislike of nation-states and his preference for supranational authority. …
According to popular media, Hungary is the graveyard where liberal democracy has gone to die. Much of the press frames the demise of European liberalism as a battle between nationalist Viktor Orban and internationalist George Soros. Orban is depicted as an enemy of the people while Soros is a champion of democracy. There’s only one problem with the thesis: the people have voted and they chose Orban again. He has entered his third term as Hungarian prime minister.
The democratic vote demonstrates popular support for Orban’s model of “illiberal democracy” where defence of Hungary’s sovereignty is paramount. In contrast to the overweening EU, Orban defends secure border policy, selective immigration intake and national values rooted in Western civilisation.
hat-tip Stephen Neil
