Political Elite: 1 Electorate: 0

Is there a solution to the divergence between what voters want and what the political class chooses to deliver? Someone to whose views I give some weight has suggested the Social Democratic Party. This is a splinter group which formed around the time when the bulk of the SDP merged with the Liberals to form the Lib Dems.

Looking at the SDP's website, there are some promising signs. For example:

The scale and vehemence of the reaction against the result of the 2016 EU referendum by Britain's cultural and political elites was striking. The evident disdain of the Westminster class for, among others, many elderly and low income voters revealed that the powerful only tolerate democracy when their view prevails.

And:

We consider the progressive desire for people to shed their national identities and unite in a pan-European or universal civilisation to be a recipe for conflict and hopelessly utopian — as unrealistic and harmful as the dismal communist project.

And:

Citizens holding a traditional, patriotic or religious outlook are often bullied and marginalised, stifling the open debate upon which a free and democratic society depends. From government to the police, from universities to schools, the politicisation of Britain's institutions in the service of fashionable ideology is leading to a loss of faith in the pillars that uphold our society.

However, the acknowledgment of specific areas where things have got out of hand does not amount to acceptance that there is a more general problem with top-down ideology. I.e. with the notion that the elites should arrange for things to be aligned with their idea of what people ought to want, rather than with what people do want.

Other signs suggest that the SDP is simply another political movement in the usual mould. This is likely, after all, given that its original roots are in the Labour Party. The solutions they offer include opposing "neoliberalism" and "individualism", and having a stronger state.

A weak, inept state, fearful of powerful global corporations, cannot serve its citizens properly. We believe the state has wrongly ceded key parts of its rightful domain to global capital and has lost confidence in its own capacity for direct provision and intervention in the service of the nation. [...]

Natural monopolies — the utilities requiring universal delivery to citizens — should be returned to public ownership and operation or be subjected to significantly more effective regulation.

They acknowledge decline of the family as a problem, but think the solution lies in more support from the state. They note that "many of our problems stem from decades-long shifts in attitudes", but blame individualism rather than rejection of bourgeois values.

A widespread values and virtues-led cultural renewal is needed, aimed at improving citizens’ happiness, health and well-being. Government — along with civic society — must play its role.

In other words, the government must still impose a top-down ideology, just a different one.

The first significant word a visitor to the home page encounters is "communitarian". This term usually implies a brand of collectivism. Collectivism, the supposed promotion of the 'interests of the community', is the standard excuse for ignoring what voters say they want. If democracy means implementing the wishes of a majority of individuals then politicians have little reason to depart from what voters communicate to them. If, on the other hand, democracy is taken to mean promoting the interests of the community as a whole, then — apart from having to make the right noises just before elections — politicians are free to believe they should act according to their own lights, to some extent regardless of voters' stated preferences.