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September 18, 2019 - 12:05pm
Today the Social Market Foundation launched a report that claims to reveal an unrecognised but “critical” dimension of politics:
They then explain that by “anarchist” they’re not referring to “a particular strand of radical, syndicalist politics” but to “the questioning of existing institutions that is characteristic of current populist politics.”
The authors are right to identify trust versus mistrust in the establishment as an important dividing line in our troubled politics. However, the labels used – “anarchist”, and the opposing “centrist” – is misleading.
As I argue here, the real anarchists in our society are the powerful institutions – whether governmental, commercial, or cultural – that have unleashed waves of chaos on the rest of society:
Our political and business leaders aren’t centrist and they’re certainly not moderate – they believe in ‘moving fast and breaking things’.
The real divide in the electorate is therefore between those of us who are most exposed to the chaos and those who are insulated – or even benefit – from it.
Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.
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