June 8, 2025

Democracy is the process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.

Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990), Canadian educator, Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Times (1977), in The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.166

Are you ready for a life in which whatever may go wrong will be laid at your doorstep? Do you understand that the voter cares not a fig for you as an individual, only as the person who will ensure that happy days are here again—for him, his kith and his kin?

The bulk of voters, in casting their ballots, unconsciously assume that the person they vote for is best placed to do what needs to be done (whatever that is), in the correct fashion (whatever that is), with the absolute least bother to them and their interests (whatever they may be). Blame becomes the name of the game up to and including the next election.