But the collapse of religion and ideology has destroyed that framework, leaving behind a politically atomised society wide open to manipulation by the likes of Mr Sarkozy or Silvio Berlusconi
The author seems to believe that democracy as such only makes sense in a context of polarised social life, be it by ideologies or religions. Does democracy need ideologies? One can indeed see the present moment as a time when anyone runs towards the centre with an eye on media coverage and polls, there is no structured set of genuine political ideas - hence no discussion of such ideas; the democratic debate would thus lack its fundamental fire and dissolve in a web of atomic social issues approached without some coherent social/political vision. One can also see it as a plea ideology (and reading between the lines, one can quite easily guess which one) makes for its own salvation. Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! (Martin Luther King)
Saying that collective movements are ideological and promotion of individualism are not is an ideological position. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
