The System Is Rigged!
(draft) In so many ways
Governments around the world have been having a bit of a problem with citizen uprisings. It seems citizens are around the world are angry about their governments' failing to provide a good present or a better future.
From the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, MAGA, Cacerolazos, Cinque Stelle, Gilets Jaunes, School Strikes for Climate Change, and Extinction Rebellion, people feel like the social contract has broken. Like their children's lives will be worse than their own. Like nobody can be trusted. Like working hard within the system no longer pays off.
Capitalism and Democracy have been hacked. The promise of "free markets" can be tuned so that citizens are defenseless and corporations profit massively. "Illiberal democracies" can appear to hold elections and have a free press, but they are all pantomime: autocrats have figured out how to fuel people's dissatisfaction to win power. Once in power, they're making great strides in tilting the game heavily in their own favor.
This article is cross-posted on Substack here, Medium here and LinkedIn here. It's also here in my Brain.