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Democracy As Political Performance
- Schumpeter defines democracy as the performance of politicians persuading voters through slogans and spectacle.
- He treats psychotechnics and party advertising as the essence, not accessories, of democratic politics.
Schumpeter’s Personal Political Failure
- Schumpeter served briefly as Austria's finance minister after WWI and presided over hyperinflation before being removed.
- He then failed in banking and returned to academia, later becoming a famous economist at Harvard.
Capitalism Undone By Its Success
- Schumpeter's 'creative destruction' argues capitalism's innovations create widespread wealth but also erode the entrepreneurial drive.
- This success creates leisure and education that can enable socialist ideas to take root.