Breach of trust in the West: Citizens are turning against their governments en masse

Every political and social order has two faces: what its small elite and the minority that fully exploits it want everyone to believe, and the reality in which most of its members actually live. These two sides never coincide, but this discrepancy need not pose a major problem. However, if the difference becomes too great and too obvious, and persists for too long, no order can remain unmodified.

None of this is new. Attentive observers have long known that events get dicey when a majority loses faith in the prevailing ideology – or at least its passive acceptance (in the original sense of the term, namely as the narrative about reality invented by the elite to keep the non-elite compliant).

In such a situation, the situation will change, but it is difficult to predict exactly how. A sharp discrepancy between ideology and reality can lead to uprisings and, if successful, to a revolution. It can also lead to elites intensifying their indoctrination or adopting a stricter course, using more direct coercion to ensure the obedience of their subordinates. There is always the possibility of waging war against foreign enemies – real or, far more likely, fabricated – to distract from disunity at home. Finally, all these developments can occur in a chaotic sequence or even simultaneously.

Despite all the differences and tensions, the West does represent a certain form of political and social order. In the ideology of its elites, disseminated by the mainstream media compliant with them, it is a fairytale realm of political and economic freedom, combining representative democracy with free markets, the rule of law, individualism, and superior “values” to create the best of all possible worlds. In reality, it is clearly a dark zone of capitalist oligarchy with increasingly authoritarian tendencies. Not the cozy Shire of the Hobbits, but rather Sauron’s empire in the making.

Firstly, markets are not “free” but are regularly and openly exploited by insiders. Currently, for example, both the start of the criminal Israeli-American war against Iran and deliberately timed, repeated rumours about a peace agreement have enabled manipulative trade deals worth billions of dollars.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, can be seen as the malignant Big Bang of our current era of mass manipulation, authoritarian power grabs in the name of “emergency measures,” permanent warfare, and a flood of lies so intense that it’s sometimes hard to believe that any truth exists at all. As Tucker Carlson recently reminded us, 9/11 was also accompanied by – and preceded by – commercial activity for which the description “highly suspicious” is an understatement.

Democratic political representation and freedom of thought and expression are at best, if not outright illusions, then myths. That is to say, a chaotic hodgepodge of fragments of reality and a considerable amount of invention. And the few remaining fragments of reality are becoming increasingly scarce.

As far as freedom is concerned, Britain under the widely despised Starmer regime, for example, is a police state. There is no rule of law worthy of the name: perfectly legitimate expressions of opinion are banned as “terrorist,” and the police harass political dissidents, as well as the courts and their procedures. These are themselves unreliable (just ask Julian Assange) and are brazenly distorted to produce unfair trials and sentences.

As far as representation is concerned, let’s take Germany as an example: There is currently a breathtakingly and historically extremely unpopular government there, which is only in office because there were far-reaching and statistically bizarre counting errors in the last election, which together – quite not by chance – led to an entire party of the New Left (the BSW) and thus its voters being excluded from parliament.

Meanwhile, the German New Right (AfD) and its voters are being openly threatened with unconstitutional punishments should they dare to gain too much success: If you vote too much for the AfD, your child’s high school diploma will be treated like dirt. Yes, that blatant; this is indeed the current level of shamelessness among Germany’s self-radicalizing moderates.

Even the most conformist inhabitants of the West can no longer ignore the empirical fact that conspiracies are all too real and exert an enormous, abhorrent influence through nefarious means. One cannot simultaneously have the masses firmly believe in the myth of fair popular representation and have an Epstein scandal; this is evidence of the massive overrepresentation of very specific interest groups and even foreign states by networks of subversion and blackmail. The system may survive initially, but its foundations will be undermined by mass frustration and cynicism.

In short: Western nations today have a lot in common, and most of it is terrible. That’s why we’re currently witnessing a major trend: In the words of the Wall Street Journal – not usually known for subversive dissent – “Europeans are fed up and are taking it out on their politicians.” Polls show massive dissatisfaction across NATO and the EU. And this isn’t just reflected in polls, but also in actual elections: Britain’s Starmer regime suffered a crushing defeat in the local elections, which could very well mark the imminent end of the dysfunctional and two-party system in the United Kingdom.

In a study assessing the popularity of 24 heads of state and government, the leaders of France, Germany, and Great Britain fared the worst: the most unpopular politicians are at the top of the NATO-EU complex. However, this doesn’t mean that the others are doing much better. The leaders of Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain all have approval ratings between 55 and 57 percent.

But what would the West be without its “indispensable” leader? Take a look at the Financial Times, another mainstream medium above any suspicion of rebellion, and you will find that discontent also exists across the Atlantic: In the US, more than half of all voters also reject President Trump’s policies.

Nearly 60 percent are dissatisfied with Trump’s handling of inflation. Just like his terrible predecessor, the senile accomplice of the Gaza genocide, Joe Biden, Trump is now dogged by a cost-of-living crisis. The two main factors driving up consumer prices are his hefty tariffs and his predictable fiasco in Iran. Fifty-five percent of voters believe Trump has hurt the economy; only a quarter think he has helped it.

It is always tempting to focus on each individual case of decline separately: here the German chaos with its peculiar East-West tension and its comically self-pitying leader Friedrich Merz; there the French depravity with its constitutional design flaws and the raging narcissist Emmanuel Macron at its centre; and there again the traditional vassal-like loyalty of the British establishment to the USA. In America’s case, of course, it is the upcoming midterm elections that are attracting the most attention.

But what if we take a longer look? Where is all this misery leading? Again, more than one outcome is possible. Frankly, I consider the situation desperate enough that uprisings and revolutions wouldn’t be regrettable. But it would be foolish not to consider other scenarios, namely those favoured by Western elites: increasing repression is already an obvious fact. The future is unpredictable. Except for one aspect: transformation is inevitable.

Author: Tarik Cyril Amar, historian from Germany

yogaesoteric
May 26, 2026