Kakistocracy

{{politics}}
{{cquote|Your kakistocracy is collapsing after its lamentable journey. As the greatest Nation history has known, we have the opportunity to emerge from this nightmare stronger & more committed to ensuring a better life for all [[Americans]], including those you have so tragically [[Deceit|deceived]].|||John O. Brennan (former [[CIA]] director) to [[Donald Trump]]<ref>[https://twitter.com/JohnBrennan/status/984803286006951936 Your kakistocracy is collapsing after its lamentable journey. As the greatest Nation history has known, we have the opportunity to emerge from this nightmare stronger & more committed to ensuring a better life for all Americans, including those you have so tragically deceived.] by [[John Brennan|John O. Brennan]] (5:39 PM — 13 Apr 2018) ''Twitter''.</ref>}}
'''Kakistocracy''' is a form of [[government]] where the [[GOP|least qualified individuals]] are in power. It comes from the [[Fun:Greek|Greek]] κακιστος (kakistos) meaning "worst"), the superlative of κακος (kakos) meaning “bad”. An early recorded use of the term was by the satirical writer Thomas Love Peacock in 1829 (''The Misfortunes of Elphin''),<ref>[http://www.thomaslovepeacock.net/Elphin.html ''The Misfortunes of Elphin''] by Thomas Love Peacock (1829).</ref> but the earliest recorded use was in 1644 by Thomas Gosnold, warning of the transformation of "our well-temperd [[Monarchy]] into a mad kinde of Kakistocracy").{{efn|{{cquote|Therefore we need not make any scruple of [[pray]]ing against such: against those Sanctimonious Incendiaries, who have fetched fire from heaven to set their Country in combustion, have [[Hypocrisy|pretended]] [[Religion]] to raise and maintaine a most wicked rebellion: against those [[Nero]]'s, who have ripped up the wombe of the mother that bare them, and wounded the [[breasts]] that gave them sucke: against those [[Cannibalism|Cannibal]]'s who feed upon the flesh and are drunke with the bloud of their own brethren: against those Catiline's who seeke their private ends in the publicke disturbance, and have set the Kingdome on fire to rost their owne egges: against those tempests of the State, those restlesse spirits who can no longer live, then be stickling and medling; who are stung with a perpetuall itch of changing and innovating, transforming our old Hierarchy into a new Presbytery, and this againe into a newer Independency; and our well-temperd Monarchy into a mad kinde of Kakistocracy.|||Thomas Gosnold<ref name=gosnold>[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A41582.0001.001/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext A sermon preached at the publique fast the ninth day of Aug. 1644 at St. Maries, Oxford, before the honorable members of the two Houses of Parliament there assembled] by Thomas Gosnold (1644).</ref>}}}}<ref name=gosnold/><ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/brennan-your-kakistocracy-is-collapsing-20180413 Brennan: Your 'Kakistocracy' is Collapsing: Former CIA Director drives lookups 13,700%] (Apr 13, 2018) ''Merriam-Webster''.</ref> Kakistocracy isn't a particularly mainstream term and it is mostly used by [[satire|satirists]] and critics of [[government]].

The more cynical will argue that all governments eventually break down into this; the most cynical argue they all ''start'' that way. Because to be part of government, you have to put yourself forward first, potential rulers are those that want the job. And most people [[Dunning-Kruger|don't know how incompetent they are]] (or are so [[sociopath]]ic that they don't care), so few potential rulers will actually be competent. The public tends to reward the most charismatic individuals the highest positions, and while charisma does demonstrate high levels of [[emotional intelligence]] and is useful for ''some'' aspects of leadership, charisma alone is not enough when 
you need to make a spot check
 trying to determine who the best subordinates to run a school system would be.

Others would argue that that there are many genuinely caring people with integrity who wish to have power in order to better serve their communities. Many believe that not to engage in matters of power and government is tantamount to voting for kakistocracy.

Other commentators besides Brennan (above quote) have used the term with regard to the Trump administration, including [[Paul Krugman]], and [[MSNBC]]'s Joy Reid.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2018/04/13/kakistocracy-a-374-year-old-word-that-means-government-by-the-worst-just-broke-the-dictionary/ Kakistocracy goes viral after John Brennan calls Trump administration 'government by the worst'] by Avi Selk (April 13, 2018 at 3:44 PM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

==Examples of kakistocracies==
* Several [[President of the United States|U.S. administrations]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Krugman|first1=Paul|title=With All Due Disrespect|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/opinion/with-all-due-disrespect.html|accessdate=2022-04-20 |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=2017-01-16}}</ref> particularly the [[Donald Trump|Trump administration]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Marsden|first1=Harriet|title=Kakistocracy may just be the perfect word to describe the Trump government|url=https://www.indy100.com/article/donald-trump-us-president-new-government-white-house-kakistocracy-7422706|accessdate=2022-04-20|work=The Independent|date=2016-11-17}}</ref>
* The [[United States|American]] political system and governance in general.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Reform_the_Kakistocracy.html?id=yXmnxAEACAAJ Description and reviews of ''Reform the Kakistocracy: Rule by the Least Able Or Least Principled Citizens''] at Google Books. Retrieved 20 April 2022.</ref>
* The British government under the leadership of consecutive [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] prime ministers [[David Cameron]],<ref name="ft.com">{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/7fa8b934-2a6b-11e9-88a4-c32129756dd8|title=Only the UK leads America in its rush to kakistocracy|newspaper=Financial Times|date=7 February 2019|last1=Luce|first1=Edward}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/11/david-cameron-leads-mps-in-a-charade-of-smoke-and-mirrors|title = David Cameron leads MPS in a charade of smoke and mirrors|website = The Guardian|date = 11 January 2016}}</ref> [[Theresa May]],<ref name="ft.com"/> and [[Boris Johnson]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/a-new-dawn-of-the-worst-and-most-injurious|title = A new dawn of the worst and most injurious|date = 24 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.europenowjournal.org/2020/11/20/the-great-british-kakistocracy/|title=The Great British Kakistocracy}}</ref>
* The Brazilian government under [[Jair Bolsonaro]].<ref name="lemdiplobrasil">{{cite web |last1=Warde |first1=Ibrahim |title=A caquistocracia |url=https://diplomatique.org.br/a-caquistocracia/ |website=Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil |access-date=25 October 2021 |language=pt-BR |date=1 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Rodrigues|first=Sérgio|date=2020-08-12|title=Caquistocracia, o pior de nós|url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/colunas/sergio-rodrigues/2020/08/caquistocracia-o-pior-de-nos.shtml|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-10|website=Folha de S.Paulo|language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Costa-Pereira|first=Raul|date=2021|title=Letter from Brazil: Teaching and Mentoring in a Sadder Nation|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bes2.1927|journal=The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America|language=en|volume=102|issue=4|pages=e01927|doi=10.1002/bes2.1927|s2cid=239699576|issn=2327-6096|quote=Facing the COVID-19 pandemic during Bolsonaro’s kakistocracy (i.e., a government run by the worst and most unscrupulous citizens) has taken a heavy toll on all of us.}}</ref>
* The Russian government under [[Boris Yeltsin]] and [[Vladimir Putin]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Abadjian|first=Vahram|date=July 2010|title=Kakistocracy or the true story of what happened in the post-Soviet area|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879366510000254|journal=Journal of Eurasian Studies|volume=1|issue=2|pages=153–163|doi=10.1016/j.euras.2010.04.009|s2cid=153850742|via=[[Science Direct]]}}</ref>
* The government of Egypt under Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ali|first=Amro|date=12 November 2016|title=Kakistocracy: a word we need to revive|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/kakistocracy-word-we-need-to-revive/|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=[[openDemocracy]]}}</ref>
* Various governments in sub-Saharan Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Okafor|first1=Collins|last2=Smith|first2=L. Murphy|last3=Ujah|first3=Nacasius U.|date=29 July 2014|title=Kleptocracy, nepotism, kakistocracy: impact of corruption in Sub-Saharan African countries|url=https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJEA.2014.063736|journal=International Journal of Economics and Accounting|volume=5|issue=2|page=97|doi=10.1504/IJEA.2014.063736|via=[[Inderscience Publishers]]}}</ref>
* The Malaysian government under Pakatan Harapan<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-08-13|title=Kerajaan PH Kerajaan Kakistocracy|url=https://umno-online.my/2018/08/13/kerajaan-ph-kerajaan-kakistocracy/|access-date=2021-11-08|website=umno-online.my|language=en-US}}</ref> after the 2018 Malaysian general election, & under Perikatan Nasional during 2020–21 Malaysian political crisis.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Report|first=Sarawak|title=From Kleptocracy To Kakistocracy - Malaysia's Sad Progress|url=https://www.sarawakreport.org/talkback/from-kleptocracy-to-kakistocracy-malaysias-sad-progress/|access-date=2021-11-08|website=Sarawak Report}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Donald Trump]], particularly the "[[Donald Trump#Presidency|Presidency]]" section
*[[Vladimir Putin]]
*[[Jair Bolsonaro]] and his ministers
*[[Boris Johnson]]
*[[Rodrigo Duterte]]
*[[Narendra Modi]]
*[[List of forms of government]]
*[[Peter Principle]]

==External links==
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-finkelstein/kakistocracy-a-word-you-s_b_132417.html Huffington Post — Kakistocracy… A Word You Should Know]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2|80%}}

{{Stub|government}}
[[Category:Government incompetence| ]]
[[Category:Forms of government]]

Categories: Government incompetence, Forms of government