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The Demon in Democracy

By: Ryszard Legutko, John O'Sullivan, Teresa Adelson
Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
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Publisher's Summary

Ryszard Legutko lived and suffered under communism for decades - and he fought with the Polish anti-communist movement to abolish it. Having lived for two decades under a liberal democracy, however, he has discovered that these two political systems have a lot more in common than one might think. They both stem from the same historical roots in early modernity, and accept similar presuppositions about history, society, religion, politics, culture, and human nature.

In The Demon in Democracy, Legutko explores the shared objectives between these two political systems, and explains how liberal democracy has, over time, lurched towards the same goals as communism, albeit without Soviet-style brutality.

Both systems, says Legutko, reduce human nature to that of the common man, who is led to believe himself liberated from the obligations of the past. Both the communist man and the liberal democratic man refuse to admit that there exists anything of value outside the political systems to which they pledged their loyalty. And both systems refuse to undertake any critical examination of their ideological prejudices.

©2016 Ryszard Legutko (P)2017 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
Eastern Politics & Government Political Science
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Audible isn't showing the true rating?

there was one bad review I've seen on Audible and a fair few 5/4 star reviews. Is Audible rigging the rating?
Anyway, interesting book. The author goes into detail on the similarities of communism and democracy, their downfalls and similar social vices. Toward the end of the book, the author gives a glimpse of his view on how society should be structured, within a Catholic framework. Not a point Ive heard articulated, but welcoming. Democracy, how we view it today, may be the same as how the peasants viewed the monarchy or aristocracy. It may be outdated in the future, we are not at the end of history.

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