The pathology of mass democracy translates into ugly social divisions. Great liberal thinkers from Bastiat to Mises have demonstrated that all classes have nothing to fear from one another in a market economy. Freedom of exchange results in the harmonization of interests. Politics, on the other hand, creates fissures that need not exist. Every minor issue becomes blown up into a Manichean struggle. This happens especially over relatively minor issues, because these are the only ones over which the mainstream politicians evince even a rhetorical disagreement. The truly foundational issues of our time—mass confiscation of wealth, IRS despotism, mass imprisonment, militarized policing at home and unending warfare abroad—unite both major parties behind an establishment agenda. They bicker instead over relatively small matters, each one of which becomes amplified into the greatest battle in the history of the world at election time.
This is from Anthony Gregory at the Independent Institute writing on US democracy.
This applies to the social democracy of the Philippines as well. Simply observe the scale of priorities from the way domestic media frames events. Or even the dominant pattern of comments on social media. Trivial matters are frequently moralized and sensationalized which becomes part of the national sports called politics. It’s pop culture that has been little different from the way gossip and slapstick entertainment have been aired on prime time. It’s also about Social Desirability Bias or the need to be seen favorably by others or status signaling. Yet most don’t realize that this obsession for the superficial makes us vulnerable to political manipulation. Politics does foster social divisions
