With increasing political polarization marching seemingly uncontested across the globe, it was time for some good news on the political front and CNN, as well as many other news outlets, promptly delivered.
This is a victory for local democracy.
Finally! After being under threat for so long and from so many different corners, democracy got the well deserved victory it so badly needed. Unfortunately, to fully appreciate why this is my bonehead comment of the day, more of the quote is needed for context.
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On September 1, there will be no more rental scooters in Paris. … This is a victory for local democracy.
Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris
Don’t get me wrong, I hate the things (or at least the myopic morons on them) as much as anyone else. But, getting rid of e-scooters counts as a victory for democracy? May 8th, 1945 was a victory, even locally in Paris. If only the ancients Greeks could see what has become of the form of politics that they named and popularized. Odds are that they’d be shouting something other than “εὕρηκα!“
Admittedly, the results of the referendum were undisputedly overwhelming, with nearly 90% of the votes cast saying to ditch the things. The problem, however, is that the turnout was even more undisputedly underwhelming, with only 7.46% of the registered voters in Paris (or a mere 103 000 out of 1.38 million people) actually being bothered enough to cast a vote. Sounds much more like the victory belonged to apathy than it did to anything else.
Then again, this is Paris. I suppose that any political process that doesn’t involve the burning of cars (or e-scooters) must count as a victory of some sort …
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