Fareed Zakaria: Democratic Meritocracy Can Counter Populism
Mikie Sherrill, Governor-Elect for the great state of New Jersey, after her victory. (Image Sherill on X)
On CNN’s GPS, Fareed Zakaria says Democrats’ revival depends on marrying liberal ideals with humility and patriotism—warning that right-wing populism feeds on cultural unease and class divides the left has failed to bridge.
By TRH Foreign Affairs Desk
New Delhi, November 9, 2025 — In his latest monologue on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, journalist and author Fareed Zakaria argued that the Democratic Party’s future depends on rediscovering its moral and cultural balance—rebuilding a “democratic meritocracy” that combines compassion with humility and reconnects liberalism with national identity.
Reflecting on the results of this week’s U.S. elections, Zakaria called them a “reprieve” for Democrats after years of decline but warned that recovery will only last if the party “draws the right lessons.”
He pointed to recent wins by centrist Democrats such as Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, who focused squarely on the economy and avoided cultural flashpoints. Even progressive candidates like Zohran Mamdani, who rose from obscurity to win in New York City, ran on affordability rather than ideology.
Zakaria said that while the economy remains voters’ top concern, “politics now shapes people’s sense of economic reality, not the other way around.” He argued that American politics has been transformed by two forces — culture and class — which the modern left has struggled to navigate.
Quoting insights from his book Age of Revolutions, Zakaria described the global backlash against rapid cultural and technological change as a driver of right-wing populism. Across the world, he said, “the right has learned to weaponize people’s unease, offering a story that is emotionally coherent even when factually thin,” while the left counters “emotion with information.”
On class, Zakaria noted that the central divide is no longer between workers and owners but “between those who flourish in the credential-driven economy and those who feel locked out of it.” He observed that Donald Trump has exploited this gap by waging “war on America’s cultural institutions,” turning resentment of educated elites into a political identity.
“The rich as rebels, the educated as oppressors—this inversion has redrawn the map of American politics,” Zakaria said, citing the swing of non-college voters from Bill Clinton’s Democratic base in 1996 to Kamala Harris’s losses in 2024.
Zakaria warned that abandoning meritocracy would only empower “an aristocracy of birth and family.” Instead, he urged Democrats to expand educational access, broaden social mobility, and cultivate leaders who serve with humility.
As a model, he pointed to Denmark’s Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who paired tough immigration rules with strong social welfare investments. “The lesson for Democrats,” Zakaria said, “is not to copy Denmark’s laws but to emulate its sensibility—compassion, inclusion, and steadiness.”
He concluded that liberal democracy remains resilient because “it speaks to the deepest human yearnings—for betterment, progress, and freedom.”
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