Comments on: “The Uncertain Future of Democracy” https://habitablezone.com/2017/08/04/the-uncertain-future-of-democracy/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2017/08/04/the-uncertain-future-of-democracy/#comment-39873 hank Fri, 04 Aug 2017 14:02:27 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=66054#comment-39873 People get lazy when they get prosperous, and when their prosperity is threatened they get scared. And when they're scared they become reckless and dangerous. These conditions allow demagogues to manipulate the people and use democratic means to get themselves elected. I call this fascism, a term which is imprecise, but still useful. Fascists are always the first ones to object to it, which gives us a bit of an early warning system for identifying them. This is the fundamental flaw in democracy, the ancient Athenians, who invented democracy, learned this the hard way 2500 years ago. Democracy was either perverted by tyrants, ineffective, or corrupt, but in my opinion it is the only option. What alternatives do we have, a form of republic like the Romans? That only serves to set up a system that will ensure stability for the leading families (or corporations, or warlords). A federal system? That only makes sure the local landholders and bosses will never get taxed too highly, or have their enterprises interfered with by do-gooders and out-of-towners. Meritocracy, feudalism, dictatorship and even monarchy have their points, but in the end, only democracy has a chance of working out, at least most of the time. It alone offers a mechanism for correction, even if it can be misled or manipulated. Still, there are no guarantees. Democracy will occasionally get you a Hitler or a Trump. I guess they are the price we have to pay for freedom. People get lazy when they get prosperous, and when their prosperity is threatened they get scared. And when they’re scared they become reckless and dangerous. These conditions allow demagogues to manipulate the people and use democratic means to get themselves elected. I call this fascism, a term which is imprecise, but still useful. Fascists are always the first ones to object to it, which gives us a bit of an early warning system for identifying them.

This is the fundamental flaw in democracy, the ancient Athenians, who invented democracy, learned this the hard way 2500 years ago. Democracy was either perverted by tyrants, ineffective, or corrupt, but in my opinion it is the only option. What alternatives do we have, a form of republic like the Romans? That only serves to set up a system that will ensure stability for the leading families (or corporations, or warlords). A federal system? That only makes sure the local landholders and bosses will never get taxed too highly, or have their enterprises interfered with by do-gooders and out-of-towners. Meritocracy, feudalism, dictatorship and even monarchy have their points, but in the end, only democracy has a chance of working out, at least most of the time. It alone offers a mechanism for correction, even if it can be misled or manipulated. Still, there are no guarantees.

Democracy will occasionally get you a Hitler or a Trump. I guess they are the price we have to pay for freedom.

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