“Minorities can have immense sway as the majority sleeps”

Janan Ganesh in the FT writes about the downsides of our democratic system, and why it’s so hard to get anything done:

In their poetic style, economists refer to this problem as one of “concentrated benefits and diffuse costs”. In a contest between a small group with lots at stake and a wider society in which everyone has a little at stake, the former tends to win, at least in a liberal democracy. Because liberal democracies allow so much room for organised dissent, so many access points for lobbying and judicial appeal, minorities can have immense sway as the majority sleeps. When Mancur Olson said so 60 years ago in The Logic of Collective Action, it was a useful enough contribution to economics and political science. Now, as I look around at the problems of the day, it seems surreally prescient. What was the “woke” era if not a motivated sect, expert in legal and bureaucratic tactics, versus a supermajority who didn’t relish a fight and barely knew one was going on?

I was out on Lough Neagh yesterday, and it’s horrific to see all the algae. Any efforts to improve the situation in the Lough are being blocked by a few rich farmers. Lough Neagh supplies 40% of the drinking water in Northern Ireland, but it seems the needs of the majority matter very little in the face of a few rich well-connected farmers.

Likewise the A5, also blocked by a few rich farmers (I sense a pattern here).

To be fair to farmers, everything in this place is a feckin’ mess, they are just better organised than most. But as you look around all our messed-up public services, always ask yourself – who benefits from the status quo?

Brian O'Neill

Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.