Thank you for an extremely interesting and provocative essay. I have been mulling over similar thoughts, but have not gotten nearly so far.

Short of “autocracy,” i.e. without necessarily eliminating the form of democracy, we are seeing a brief period of meritocracy for ‘the masses’ revert to patronage. With patronage, who you know — having the ‘right’ social connections — is the most important thing. In that regard, there are no connections like family connections: thus a slide towards substantive aristocratic forms.

As for democracy itself, the inherent advantage it has over any other form for a political process is that in it new ideas can come forth as needed. That is not happening in supposed democracies. The last thing those on the upper rungs anywhere (including editors, academics, and politicians all over the place — and as well the curators in Medium) are interested in is ideas that can actually change things. To claim to have discovered a solution for anything is to be quietly consigned to kookville.

I have been touting for some time an idea that would absolutely, positively eliminate unemployment, poverty, taxes and public debt. At a minimum, shouldn’t such an idea be a topic of vigorous public discussion? (If it matters, I do have an M.A. in economics.)

If your curiosity exceeds your cynicism, there is, as an intro, “A Truly Great Idea,” published, to their eternal credit, in Data Driven Investor here in Medium.