It’s starting to appear that the democratic system now causes more misery and chaos than it solves. The ancient Greeks were well aware of its shortcomings, and now that our cultural decay is starting to become conspicuous, we’re learning about its shortcomings as well. This essay shows how democracy in the West has terminally failed, and what we can do about it.
In The Republic, Plato wrote about how the franchise begins with a small number of people and then gets expanded, in successive waves, to encompass everyone. When it does encompass everyone, it encompasses unwise people who don’t know how to keep their egos and desires in check, and these people cause the government to make bad decisions in trying to placate them.
Democracy leads to tyranny because people eventually get so fed up with the chaos, pandering and incompetence that they vote a strongman into power to sort it all out. This strongman usually rigs things so that it’s hard to get him out of power, and with that done, the system can become extremely brutal and autocratic. It’s a story so old that even by Plato’s time there were enough examples to describe a generalised form of it.
Democracy is to the people’s will to resist as a lightning rod is to the lightning bolt. The purpose of it is to dissipate energy so that it doesn’t do any property damage. Democracy takes the people’s anger about the way they have been abused and uses it to fuel this great ritual called an election. The point of the election is to dissipate the people’s anger by making them feel as if they are being listened to.
In order to keep people voting (and thereby not rioting), politicians have to keep up the facade that the people are in charge. If they can’t keep this facade up, then cynicism will become widespread, and people will start supporting other politicians or systems other than democracy. This cynicism, then, is the sign that a political system is failing.
Much like a fiat currency, a democracy needs to inspire confidence in order to keep existing. This can only happen if the people feel that they are in charge. Unfortunately for everyone, it’s now obvious that the people are not at all in charge.
The Brexit charade has now been going on for three years. It has been three years since the British electorate voted to leave the European Union, but not only is Britain still in, their rulers appear to have no clear plan for leaving. It’s obvious that the British Parliament has done everything they can to delay the process in the hope that it can somehow be abandoned outright.
There are many within that Parliament who appear to think it legitimate to work against the will of the people at the same time as drawing a paycheck for representing those people. They plan to force a second referendum and, if that should lose, a third. Some have responded to news of this plan with talk of civil war. Resisting Brexit has caused massive cynicism and resentment, dealing a crippling wound to British democracy.
The mainstream media, joined at the hip to the political class, pumps out propaganda as if there was a war on. The Economist magazine ran an editorial this week demanding yet another Brexit extension, at the same time as running a feature article about the danger of rising cynicism among the voters. All over the West, the mainstream media appears oblivious to how badly it has failed in its duty to inform.
In New Zealand, a similar situation is arising with refugees. It’s already more than apparent the vast majority of New Zealand do not want an increase to the refugee quota on account of that there are already 12,000 Kiwis on the public housing waitlist. Despite this, the Sixth Labour Government doubled that quota, knowing that most of the beneficiaries of doing so would be lifelong Labour voters.
Worst of all, the New Zealand First party that campaigned on a reduction to immigration is the same one that refused to table an objection to the doubling of the quota. This betrayal, among others, will further reduce faith in democracy among the very population groups whose confidence was wavering the most.
On top of all this, it has come to public awareness that pedophile rings operate at the top levels of government in every Western country. Jimmy Savile and Jeffrey Epstein were not outliers, but emblematic of a wider predilection among the ruling classes. Our ruling classes are literally raping our children en masse, and voting does nothing to stop the rot, as all of our elected representatives are on the same side as the child rapists.
It seems that the existing social contract is dead. There is no longer any pretence that the ruling class need take the opinions or even the wellbeing of the plebs into account. It’s now transparent that the ruling class make decisions based on what benefits them and their sponsors as a group, and the suffering caused to the lower classes is simply ignored as insignificant.
If it doesn’t matter when the demos gets overruled, left without shelter or raped by grooming gangs of predatory foreign men, then democracy is dead. What we have now is a tyrannical oligarchy held together by extremely sophisticated propaganda and a dogged refusal to allow any non-approved items onto the agenda.
The problem with declaring democracy dead is that there are a great many shitty alternatives to it. One of the foremost of these is the idea that the abolition of democracy constitutes a green light to getting rid of “them”. Authoritarianism is no alternative to democracy because it always leads to warfare, as authoritarianism naturally provokes all manner of people into becoming enemies.
However, that isn’t the fault of the observers, it’s the fault of those who killed democracy – the liars, the bullshitters, the opportunists, the narcissists and psychopaths whose conduct eroded faith in political co-operation. Let us not forget, the alternative to political co-operation is violence. For future co-operation to be possible, however, the three major failed ideologies must be rejected and a comprehensive understanding of inherent human rights embraced.
Cheers, it seems like a revolution is coming our way one way or another
Daniel Price
if authoritarianism is not the alternative then what do you propose? apart from embracing 'inherent human rights'
Easton Gomez
Luciferian theocracy, brother. Rule of enlightened philsopher kings, enlightenment being defined as having partaken in three festivals of the reinstated Eleusinian Mysteries.
Matthew Reed
Well obviously user some Utopian super system will present itself before us and right the wrongs of democracy without embracing authoritarianism. He's a moron. He can see a problem, but no solution so he chooses to believe in providence.
>Authoritarianism is no alternative to democracy However a monarchic democracy is slightly different to Republicanism.
>the liars, the bullshitters, the opportunists, the narcissists and psychopaths 'Hypocrite lecteur, — mon semblable, — mon frère'
Bureaucracy is more likely. Don't forget your tax return.
Juan Walker
Open boogaloo might be a necessary step. Plato wrote, in Book VI of The Republic, that democracy and tyranny lead to civil war, after which a new faction of philosopher kings impose a new order.
Maybe Jow Forums are those philosopher kings. Maybe Jow Forums is the equivalent of an astral plane meeting house for anti-globohomo forces.
The way I see it, democracy just does not scale very well. Notice how the bigger the democracy, the more dysfunctional it tends to be. The biggest democracy is India which is the messiest and most chaotic. Then it’s the US which is more dysfunctional than most democracies of lower population. And Germany and France are more dysfunctional than Switzerland and Norway.
People want local democracy and local control. Big large scale democracy is an absolute disaster where the individual is completely meaningless and their vote gets totally diluted by mass media and immigration. Democracy was meant to be a local system, not a large a national one.
Easton Garcia
Jolly good. >Brexit: Decision to suspend Parliament ruled lawful by High Court
Robert Garcia
Democracy only works when 50% of the populous has an IQ above luke warm water.
Christopher Fisher
Excellent read. You are on point on every issue. We have been treating democracy as the golden calf when, in reality, things do not work that way. Nature is cruel and it is impossible to placate each and every wish from every citizen. And do not forget that every person has a set price. Some settle for a house, other for USD 1 million. If you buy the correct people - bam, no democracy. Communism is not an alternative for a simple reason: it is purely millenarian. An reedited Judaeo-christian messianic tale under a thin varnish of atheism and pseudo-scientific bullshit. Communism is just like a cargo cult, or Nongqawuse's cattle killing cult (it couldn't be a more perfect example of how communism works in practice).
But living in Latin America, a place where democracy is inherently unstable and strongman often make coups-d'état, I'd rather live under the Epicurean maxim "kai politeusthai" - do not get yourself involved in politics. Democracies and strongmen come and go. We have to work. It is a misfortune trust today is so low, but money doesn't grow in trees.
John Clark
>Public vote on issue. >Leader of the guys who didn't get into government fights tooth and nail to oppose it. Retard.
Nathan Thomas
Which is the case, do not underestimate the populous in the same way I would respect each user. Though a technocratic group within the democratic process has a role to play should the basest desires of the few gain unwarranted support.
Blake Nelson
(How am I doing? Am I on message still? Cheers)
Easton Stewart
Literally what?
Brandon Reyes
Cheers!
Do people know God in Brazil? I don't mean religious, but truly know God?
It seems to me that this is the missing factor. A political system with it can hardly fail; a system with it can hardly succeed.
Colton Baker
You said: >The public are voting on these issues. >Democracy doesn't lead to tyranny. When Corbyn's actions in recent months has shown both are clearly untrue. Why spout sophistry?
Henry Jones
You have a point here. People care more about parochial matters than about larger issues. They are more likely to complain if a group of refugees is settled in their neighbourhood (clear NIMBYism). Should the same group of refugees be settled elsewhere there would be no complaints at all from these neighbours.
Actually, in a larger scale, people need a stable currency and some protection from foreign invasions. Anything else implemented in large-scale doses (i.e., mandatory gender theories in schools. mandatory gay brainwashing on TV) is both unneeded and bound to generate resistance.
Julian Clark
The fundamental problem with democracy is how to prevent malicious, malevolent, and mendacious people gaining control of the electors and making them vote for laws which they know will be harmful to the public interest?
>In The Republic, Plato wrote about how the franchise begins with a small number of people and then gets expanded, in successive waves, to encompass everyone. When it does encompass everyone, it encompasses unwise people who don’t know how to keep their egos and desires in check, and these people cause the government to make bad decisions in trying to placate them. Trump voters in a nutshell.
Christopher Powell
Communism is like a cargo cult, yes, that's a very perceptive point. Think of the South African politicians who think food comes from supermarkets.
Do you know of Plato's maxim that if you don't get into politics, you end up ruled by people worse than you?
Luke Cook
Of course the Female Labor Union would throw in their two quids.
The issue arose when politicians discovered that they can bribe their constituents with public money, and voters could legally plunder the public treasury through their willing elected politician. It was inevitable.
Well, actually God-fearing niggers are better to work with, btw. I do understand your point, though, and I do believe that people are better united when they have something in common. Religion is something that can unite people. Culture can unite people. Lots and lots of things can unite people and generate trust. As interesting as it seems, Brazil is rather caotic in many senses. People here don't trust each other and the government, as, due to the fact that everyone have different origins (i.e., there are Italians, French, Spaniards, Portuguese, many Amerindian tribes and many black tribes), they don't simply think it is OK to trust someone who don't share the same set of beliefs. Vargas government tried to unite Brazilians using soccer and large asses, but it didn't work out (he is hated in many places).
On God, I think the catholic church (it used to be very strong here) would be an unifying factor, but priests today seem to be more into kiddy-diddling than actually tending their flock. My grandparents tell that people used to be more united when priests knew and helped their flock. Today, every little quibble ends up in a lawsuit - what a perfectly nice way of creating trust among the populace!
Owen Bell
>If it doesn’t matter when the demos gets overruled, left without shelter or raped by grooming gangs of predatory foreign men, then democracy is dead. What we have now is a tyrannical oligarchy held together by extremely sophisticated propaganda and a dogged refusal to allow any non-approved items onto the agenda.
good summary/observation
Hunter Butler
>Why spout sophistry?
He seems like a Marxist to me
Oliver Lewis
If it was inevitable, then its collapse (into anarchy, or tyranny then anarchy) is inevitable, and its reformation into something better built upon the ashes of the old is inevitable.
Luis Torres
I didn't think consuming that much round table koolaid was even possible.
Justin Gray
Labour attempted a number of times to act undemocratically by refusing the choice of its party members, thankfully this was seen off. Unfortunately for Jeremy his party are opposed to a democratic process, this being a referendum result concluded by the MPs paid for out of the public's purse. Due to their failure in this matter it is now also a justification for the prorogation of parliament. I state my beliefs, I can do no more.
I actually do not understand a word of what you are saying let alone implying.
Julian Powell
>Luciferian theocracy ahh bruh?
>Rule of enlightened philsopher kings can you clarify this more? has this also ever been practiced?
>Maybe Jow Forums is the equivalent of an astral plane meeting house for anti-globohomo forces. Pol is far from an astral plane, it is just really the forefront of perhaps far right ideologies, nationalism and right wing dissidents in general which are i suppose forming in themselves, a movement against the current way of things...
heres a question, would you be in favour of authoritarianism if it were pure? a benevolent dictatorship or a dictablanda, enlightened absolutism. Maybe this is what you were trying to convey earlier with the philsopher king idea?
Dominic Brown
Answer honestly: Are you a bot?
Jose Barnes
I'm more of an epicurean though - Live without being noticed and do not get yourself involved in politics. The public sphere has delicious fruits, but it can generate too much anxiety and fear due to ever-expanding franchise and the need of every politician to placate every one of his voters. You have a very valid point, though. I think we should get in politics for basic, universal stuff (like those lolbertarians. I mean, they have some interesting ideas), but first we should be able to save ourselves from the hordes of starving people that come after a failed democracy.
Joseph Cox
We have representative democracy, not real democracy. And the majority of our representatives are friends of Epstein. Representative democracy failed.
Owen Jones
It takes some serious sperging to find all the information but look into when greece had the misfortune of meeting the kikes. The tldr of it is: >wandering kike appears >greeks tolerate them, allow them to trade their kike wares within greek cities >kikes start trying to subvert the pantheon >greeks shoah them, chase them off into exile >kikes return several decades later >plebs want to be able to buy the cheap kike wares again >kike merchants are allowed to return but they are not allowed within city limits and must set up merchant stands in designated areas outside of the city >eventually kikes manage to coopt enough greeks into supporting the "more trusted kikes" being allowed to open up shop within city limits >And then, completely out of no where, the concept of democracy started to become a thing.
>bruh what are you saying democracy is a kike concept that they came up with after their age old doctrine of religious subversion did not work on the greeks.
Chase Stewart
>I actually do not understand a word of what you are saying let alone implying. #1
Democracy only works within a homogeneous society, otherwise its nothing more than a game to see who can have the most babies. There is no political solution.
Jose King
Yeah it's brutal. NZ is still a relatively high-trust society, but social capital has decayed heavily over the past 20 years.
Too much diversity to mentally handle, this leads to a lack of trust.
Grayson Long
As weird as it seems, a dictablanda would be a really good idea here in Latin America. A ruler that doesn't change that often and do not pester and bother people with unimportant bullshit, that keeps consistent educational, economical and land policies for more than 10 years, that keeps infrastructure working... It sounds like a golden dream in a place wrecked by political turmoil every 20-30 years or so.
We were actually better when we have a king here.
Jason Sullivan
Exactly. Voters are cheap. Politicians buy them with trinkets. Democracy can only work when the CEO and the man who takes the garbage of your neighbourhood have a shared set of beliefs. Else, it is a market for politicians who can buy, swindle or sway the most voters (and, hence it is a market, economical laws do apply therein)
Caleb Morgan
>eres a question, would you be in favour of authoritarianism if it were pure?
Yes, but the problem with it is that you must define who it's pure for. An authority must represent a family, town, province or nation. Defining who is part of the nation is no longer easy thanks to Jews opening the borders to the whole world.
Jordan Martin
Pretty sure you're correct - it's a bot
Liam Cook
Have you got an answer for how "real" democracy would work?
Blake Reed
>Unfortunately for Jeremy As he too wanted to leave the EU as did many European socialists. Though this did not sit well with those socialists that made good when they abandoned their hometowns for the high life in London. It is a barbed point but there is a truth to it. And I am tired of it myself. Send them another £5, they may relent.
Jonathan Williams
Jews are experts at finding compliant suckers among the target population.
>Authoritarianism is no alternative to democracy because it always leads to warfare, I want to disagree with this but I can not think of an instance where it was not true. Maybe the veracity of that statement is not what I want to disagree with but rather the characteristic of warfare. Is warfare always a bad thing? What we know of as warfare is, but then again there has not been a war fought that wasnt either funded, instigated by, or at the behest of the kikes going back hundreds of years. Hell, there was a war in mexico a couple hundred years ago, I forget what it was called, began with a Y (something like the Yucca or Yuma War) where a large clan of mexican feather niggers took up arms against the spanish and then the mexican government. Even that fucking war was instigated by a kike posing as a catholic priest.
What i am getting at is, is warfare always a bad option or is our view of warfare tainted by the fact that every war going back long before we were born was waged for/by hidden motives and interests? Can we really qualify warfare waged for a more perfect society in the same sentence that we qualify warfare that when placed under the microscope nothing to do with the interests of the people at all?
Samuel Bennett
I think "real" democracy is just like "real" communism. It simply can not exist in reality. Even the best democracy has its fair share of problems.
Easy, England for the English, Germany for the Germans, French for the French etc. etc. Those are ethnically (of blood), linguistically and culturally of that group are of that creed. (if they match all these prerequisites, then they are a part of that nation)
Just a fundamental and age old identification. Essentially race.
Multiculturalism can easily be demolished, remigration is the answer.
As soon as nationalism wins, multiculturalism will be abolished and gradually homogeneity will be restored imo. Population transfers have been done all throughout modern history, and can be repeated by a strong willed and passionate force that wants to see their existence recovered and not lost. As long as we have the will, we can will it into being.
Luke Bell
I was astonished to learn that Brazil was actually a serious empire under Pedro II.
Elijah Stewart
As long as we're the Anzac Empire. I'll die before I go back to Europe full stop, let alone Mud Island.
Owen Gonzalez
>It’s starting to appear You are 70 years late you literal child, congrats on figuring it out though.
Logan Garcia
Brazil was a really nice place during his reign, then came ((democracy)) and things derailed so hard it hurts. You see, some of our politicians were bought with trinkets (see Dutra, the stupidest politician ever. Married with an ultra-religious wife. He was corrupted by other government using televisions. Kubitschek - corrupted by the American Car Industry with cheap crappy cars. Sold all our trains to scrap). Argentina, too, had very good governments. Then Perón fucked everything up.
Thomas Reed
You’re thread has turned the way of that TV Show LOST. Great beginning, engaging second act, and no conclusion.
It’s easy to write drivel without an Act 3 or conclusion I suggest you go back to you’re study or stop watching Tarantino movies and JJ Abrams shows.
Jaxson Collins
Oy gevalt, Israel-kun! He is an englishman, and they tend to be polite and understate everything.
Btw, how do I get some sweet holocaust reparation money? >t. crypto-jew
Jack Young
>Pol is far from an astral plane, >Pol Recently this has been true. There are no longer any quality esoteric discussions on this board. But, this has not always been the case. From 2011 to as recently as late 2018 quality discussions on the metaphysical were a staple here. A good many anons found the path when questions/problems presented during the discussion of the political ails of this world lead to them sperging into questions concerning reality itself.
But, I will say that you are also right about this because you can not just a population by its outliers and the majority of anons on Jow Forums have and still do remain close to pleb tier on such subjects. There is a reason for this, populations (as in any group of people) tend to behave according to the 80/20 rule.
Oliver Cox
The kikes didn't have to invent democracy for them to subvert and take advantage of it.
This just might be the weakest shilling I've ever seen.
Colton Young
Democracy is such a colossal failure all the way from the WW2 era, that calling him a child is a polite understatement as well. >Btw, how do I get some sweet holocaust reparation money? Just make shit up, it's a proven formula.
Plato believed that the philosopher king model would promote people who couldn't be bought off with shekels. Maybe he'd already observed what Jews could do to a society.
Ethan Gutierrez
That is the point. Now we contribute to the discussion and conclude it amongst ourselves. This is a thread not a blog
Eli Watson
>Roman Republic Fails Caesar becomes dictator and is loved by the masses >French Republic becomes a disater People allow for Napoleon
more examples like the Weimar but the trend is obvious
Jonathan Russell
I suspect we are entering the time of many mini-Hitlers
Hudson Wright
This is a mix of controversial BANNED YouTube videos by The Based one himself . Share and save them
You can pretty much stop suspecting and be certain that this will happen. We are ultra Weimar
Wyatt Campbell
It would explain the rise in more far right and far lefr ideologies. even societies that weren't republics but autocratic go through a similar process due to this lack of proper representation
Michael Walker
Well, actually, Caesar was more similar to Trump than you think. And to clarify, Caesar entered the stage during the late years of the Republic, but it was actually he that accelerated the erosion of democracy more than anyone else.
You see, Caesar was a famous general and populist politician who was loved by the people and military. He wanted land reform and economic changes that benefited the majority and military veterans. The Elites hated Caesar and did everything they could to blueball him. Their greatest mistake was tipping off that they were going to throw him in the slammer or have him executed once he left office. Of course the solution to this was never leaving office.
You know the story. They stabbed to death Rome's beloved dictator-for-life and pissed the people off more than they've ever been before. They were forced to install his nephew, Octavian, as the Emperor- called the Princeps at the time. They bestowed upon him the title of Augustus.
Julius Caesar pissed off the elites and destroyed democratic society and norms purely by flying by the seat of his pants to avoid prosecution and injustice. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing at the time.
Austin Nguyen
That's been and gone mate. New costumes are needed.
I completely agree but the point stands that the declining Roman Republic is what helped contribute to makint Caesar such an appealing option for unlike his opposition he was willing to meet the masses needs. Granted you're right that he had no idea during the time.
Lucas Murphy
Impossible, there will always be a niche for visionary leaders with solutions to the corruption of the age.
Gabriel Morgan
If Trump is caesar then when and who will be augustus
Carson Cruz
I agree with the idea that immigration takeover is a bad thing, but the a skill based immigration is how we can progress. Diversity isn't objectively good, but use the benefits you get
Dylan Young
Hahaha, I really need some shekels. I fell for the university meme and now I'm penniless. A Jewish friend is going to Israel and man, you have some seriously weird welfare stuff. I mean,1 BRL ~= 1 NIS, so the money in se is somewhat large (for us, I know a shitty apartment in Tel-Aviv costs NIS 4.500/month). But consider the following: I sing Nagila Hava to a rabbi, he gives me the Jewish card, Then I apply to Aliyah and get all sorts of goodies. I sell stuff in NIS and get stuff in BRL. Bam, money problems solved.
But I am talking about this because it is a perfect illustration of how democracies die. Israel is franchising people who are remotely Jewish in order to "buy settlers". If you keep buying settlers, there will be no money for natives in the long run (in other words: you can't buy people's will indefinitely via welfare). The competing wills create expensive warfare (i.e., internal warfare that is far beyond its actual costs).
In a very wicked twist of fate, democracy has every hint of a Ponzi scheme (and welfare is a Ponzi scheme in a very literal sense).
Power-Weimar with tranny walks, gay parades, tumblr-gender freaks and furries!
James Robinson
>Democracy is to the people’s will to resist as a lightning rod is to the lightning bolt. The purpose of it is to dissipate energy so that it doesn’t do any property damage. Democracy takes the people’s anger about the way they have been abused and uses it to fuel this great ritual called an election. The point of the election is to dissipate the people’s anger by making them feel as if they are being listened to. This part explains why elections are getting more polarized. The mainstream media presents some candidates as the next Hitler/Stalin (or whatever makes people afraid) and other candidates as saviors, so people get involved, participate and vote for one them to save the world/burn it down without.
Luis Wood
We are basically stuck in an obsolete and corrupt system of government because we are simply too stupid and too lazy to come up with an alternative. As Plato correctly stated, and that guy was pretty much the epitome of human thought and reason, democracy is a swell system, until it isn't.
Maybe democracy is the correct representation of human existence: dumb, corrupt and virulent.
We basically need a Greek Golden age v2.0 and re-write the rules. We desperately need huge thinkers again, men that can inspire and bring about fundamental change. Not with money or greed, just pure inspiration.
Landon Gomez
Good point, fellow countryman. But I think it is more of a way of "engaging people" to control them in the long run. In other words: Smoke and mirrors. Fake choice, fake freedoms.
Benjamin Taylor
Nicely put. Personally, I wonder if the Chinese system, and it's variations, will overtake Western democracy in popularity in the coming decades.
Henry Phillips
I think we are more in the late-Hellenistic age. Stoics, Cynics, Epicureans, Hedonists...
Noah Smith
The Mandate of Heaven have some interesting properties - The emperor doesn't bother the populace as he is too absorbed in palatial intrigues and the people willingly submit to him. The emperor falls when his government is unfair/unworthy. Nice in theory and it works pretty well to Chinese society. I don't know whether it'd work here in the west, as westerners are way different.
Jacob Anderson
Op just btfo your retarded statement. What do you have to say now?
Bentley Long
Based, the other thing worst than democracy is tyranny.
Well put. Ive become increasingly aware that democracy is no longer a viable solution as well. This is a highly complicated problem to solve, and it needs a cultural solution as much as a political one in my estimation
Anthony Moore
Only time will give us conclusions. No worries, America-kun. Now eat your hamburgers.
Luis Phillips
>muh plato >democracy bad fuck off dummy, democracy has problems but it is 1000000x better than all other alternatives
Jews are a diaspora culture. There are no natives, not really, the natives are these Settler Jews who get benefits because "Zionism" is a nationalist reconstruction effort more than anything. This is a welfare country due to its historic communist origins. But I think you are wrong about Aliyah welfare specifically. It's essentially only a boost to get you started as a productive, (relatively)debt-free citizen. It's not as dangerous as you describe because it's not indefinite. At some point, there will be no new Aliyahs. (Maybe I'm missing your point..) In my view the issue with democracy was always propaganda rather than welfare schemes or any material issues.
David Brown
It is fundamentally flawed, democracy is nothing more than an oligarchy with the oligarchs controlling popular opinions. Popular opinions that increase their influence and wealth.
