Martin Doktár

​In a modern parliamentary democracy, the leaders  essentially offer up prosperity and feel-good sentiments in exchange for votes.  But does democracy actually generate prosperity?  We used to think so.  It seemed to be the lesson of both world wars.  Freedom triumphed over oppression largely through the superior economic power of the allied democracies.

 

But what happens when prosperity becomes ever more elusive, growth turns into decline and all politicians can offer their electorates are emotions and unrealistic promises? Parliamentary democracy does not deal well with severe crisis - for the simple reason that the other side sees the advantage of claiming either that there is no crisis, or that it can be managed with a minimum of sacrifice.

 

Can an increasingly fragile economy sustain freedom in the face of the new geopolitical realities that see authoritarian economies outperforming the democracies?  Can western leaders be relied on to present their notional masters, the people, with realistic choices?  Or will election after election be contested on dreams of a better tomorrow and an increasingly bitter quarrel about how to divide the dwindling wealth of a nation?

 

In short, can our form of democracy survive?  With the political class  increasingly insultated by unelected and unaccountable bureaucracies from the people it serves? With leaders in denial and an electorate too uninformed to react.

 

King's Champion explores the danger of predatory financing of political movements in a vulnerable democracy.   It is one of the many threats to what I firmly believe is the best way of life ever conceived by men and women.  Just one of many threats.  Coyle is no deep thinking philosopher - but he recognises that free societies are worth defending against all those who would destroy them.

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