The real problem with social democracy....

...is that it is a technocratic, elitist phenomenon that presumes that centralized, credentialed elites 'know best' and therefore that quaint notions like liberty, democracy and 'the people' are simply obstacles to an 'optimal' arrangement of society's affairs.  Of course 'optimal' always seems to mean 'us on top'.  Daniel Hannan, MEP from Southeast England makes this critical point in the WSJ:

The will of the people is generally seen by Eurocrats as an obstacle to overcome, not a reason to change direction. When France, the Netherlands and Ireland voted against the European Constitution, the referendum results were swatted aside and the document adopted regardless. For, in Brussels, the ruling doctrine—that the nation-state must be transcended—is seen as more important than freedom, democracy or the rule of law.