“To found the reward for virtuous actions on the approval of others is to choose too uncertain and shaky a foundation.” We are discovering that public sentiment cannot hold the institutions of democratic order in place, that they can be distorted and turned against those institutions.
Plato knew of democracy’s instability and said it was an inevitable weakness of this form of government, that rule of the people leads to reigns of know-nothing incompetents, inviting in tyranny. Modern institutions, not just in government, tweaked this weakness by relying on experts to do the real work of organizations, with limited interference from the political class.
The populist wave has returned and is using majority rule as a hammer to smash our refined version. The approval of others is swinging towards those who lack all virtue. They are exposing the core weakness of democratic institutions—that no matter how strong your Constitution, a republic rises and falls on willingness of people to follow norms and customs. Bureaucrats and experts create distance from the public, but ultimately serve to protect institutions that keep democracy from destroying itself.