I recently received an email comparing the salaries of ministers and parliamentarians to the average income of the "general population", in a European country I would rather not name. Naming the country is not that relevant I think because the conclusions are valid for all mediacracies. Mediacracies are former democracies in which the power of the people was insidiously replaced by the power of powerful media serving particular interest groups by shaping public opinion and offering biased news. Most western countries have become or are about to become mediacracies in this beginning of XXIst century.
The data is interesting because it shows that the rulers earn over 15 times more than the average and likely 30 times more than the lowest incomes. The question is how can the rulers possibly understand the life their people live, how can leadership be compasionate when there is such a spread in wealth between those who rule and those who are being ruled?
While I find the data interesting, I dislike the exercise because it can bring arguments in favour of extremists who claim we should dismantle the "establishment" to create some sort of new order. Sarkozy's and W's Brave New World... When examining the new order these people offer, its similarities with the worst totalitarian regimes of Europe's long History are striking.
Let us beware of "simple solutions" for they usually don't work and cause a lot of misery.
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