Western Liberal Democracies were Never Really Efficient

They had Done Well in the Past Simply Because They Needed to Outperform Undemocratic Rivals

Another my three-year old article which I do believe is still relevant now as well.

Western Capitalist Liberal Democracies were never actually really Sustainable and Efficient

It turns out that Western capitalist liberal democracies aren't that sustainable as they were largely believed to be. I mean, now in US which is an unofficial capital of Western civilization, free market degenerated into monopolism and corporate tyranny, free press - into state propaganda tool, democracy - into statism and authoritarianism, and liberalism - into Wokeism. This change is striking and likely irreversible. But how had this happened? How the system which worked for centuries almost impeccably failed that miserably just for the last decade?

I have an interesting answer to that. My point is that perhaps Western capitalist liberal democracies were never really sustainable. They seemed to work well ONLY because there were always some 'enemy' or 'rival' states with opposite political and economical systems they needed to outperform. Up to early 20th century, there were still strong illiberal monarchies in Europe. Liberal democracies had to outperform them, for entirely selfish reasons - to prove to everyone how great their system is, etc. Then, when WWI largely destroyed the last European monarchies, new Communist monster USSR had risen, and after WWII spread its influence over the half of the world. Now, Western capitalist liberal democracies had to perform well in order to outperform this dangerous enemy with its Communist statism and planned economy.

But what happened in the end of 20th century? Right, USSR, the main Western enemy and rival, had collapsed thirty years ago. So, now Western capitalist liberal democracies had finally proven to the whole world that they indeed work best, and then happily degenerated without a need to outperform any more of 'foreign enemies'. Well, not entirely. Technically, there is still Communist China and Islamic theocracies. But the arrogant West was never really concerned with Islamic states and their governance (even American war on terrorism was largely a circus and shit show for American citizens, not really an actual war). And China had adopted free market system from the West, and allowed Western capitalist companies on their market. What's more to desire from it?

So, my theory is that after collapse of USSR, when the West was left without a real enemy or rival with opposite to it political and economic system which it needed to outperform, Western capitalist liberal democracy had shown its true worth which wasn't that great it turned out. This whole system degenerated almost completely in just thirty years, at least in US. It proves that this system was never really effective and sustainable, and illusion of its sustainability came from necessity to outperform political enemies and rivals.

What, do you doubt that Western system had indeed degenerated? Do you doubt that free market, democracy and liberalism is no more in the West? Economic wise, look at Big Pharma and Big Tech monopolies tremendous power, and in most important for modern civilization areas - information and healthcare - and you'd see for yourself that free market in US is dead. Look at cancel culture and Big Tech censorship and you'd see for yourself that free speech is just as dead. Look at American media which turned into trumpets of political propaganda for either Democrats or Republicans and you'd see that free press is dead as well. Look at new Woke totalitarian ideology which silences all the dissenters and you'd see that liberalism overall is just as dead. Dead and gone, all the pillars of American society.

But what's about democracy and Constitution, some people would ask, they are still working? Well, from democracy only its pure definition - voting system - is left. All the basic principles of democracy - freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of movement and gatherings, pluralism of opinions, no political propaganda and censorship - are gone. Technically, people still have a power to vote in US, but for how long? When their media propaganda would cease to work, American Democrats would begin to restrict people's rights to vote, and to rewrite the Constitution. Calls to both are already heard among American 'progressives' like AOC and her toxic Squad. After all, if America is 'systemically racist' and was built on 'oppression', then its democracy and its Constitution itself are flawed and need to be rewritten and 'reformed' to better suit 'progressive' needs, right? In other words, the tyranny is coming.

Be sure, Democrats aren't going to give back to Republicans any branch of power (now they control all the branches save Supreme court - White House, Congress). Democrats won't allow Republicans to win in 2022, have no doubt of that. (I was proved 100% correct here, this was a a truly prescient article indeed!) They would restrict people's rights to vote, would introduce new fake states (where majority would vote for them, coincidentally), etc. Also, they plan to regain control over the Supreme Court by extending the number of judges there (calls to that are also heard among Democratic establishment). This neo fascist party is prepared to abuse the power, and it will. All under the noble slogans, ofc, to dupe the peasants.

But I now believe that this happened because our basic Western concepts like free market, free press and free speech, which we believed to be the pillars of our society, were themselves flawed from the very beginning. Free market and perfect competition were never really sustainable - at some point, some companies would always gather more market power, then start to restrict the entry to the market, drive off all their rivals and eventually turn into monopolies. This is even called 'market failure' in economics. In case of market failures, state should interfere and, say, impose antitrust legislation against largest monopolies. But what if those monopolies are so rich and powerful (like Big Tech and Big Pharma in US), that they could buy the whole federal government? Then everything goes down the drain, and both free market and democratic political system ceases to exist replaced by corporate tyranny and corrupt merge of largest corporations and federal government. This is what happened in US.

It's easy to see how companies who control all our information exchange (again, Big Tech) can easily restrict free speech and apply censorship (what they are actively doing), and how big companies who own the media can turn those media into their propaganda tools. This is also what had happened in US.

But I maintain that what happened in US wasn't the collapse of 'working efficient Western system'. It was just the end of an illusion that this system was effective and sustainable. In truth, it never was, and, perhaps, if not for the need to 'outperform foreign rivals', either illiberal monarchies or Communist dictatorships, Western system might have degenerated and collapsed far earlier in time.