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Originally Posted by jimjamuser
I agree with the last paragraph. Even in the democratic countries, all institutions have some level of corruption.....Federal Government, state and local governments, Universities (high Presidents' salaries, high coaches" salaries), corporations (excessively high salaries), and even religion (Tammy Faye Baker, Billy Graham, and TV Evangelicals with private jets). If you push that corruption higher and higher, you slowly lose a middle class, propaganda increases, and eventually, you get a Dictatorship. Fortunately, most Dictators and Dictatorships don't enjoy a long life span - Putin is at about 22years, so he is overdue for a fall. Then, a country goes from anarchy to possibly democracy. But, democracies are fragile and must maintain a strong middle-class and constantly fight against corruption. I believe that it is about 50/50 whether Putin will be overthrown soon.
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Agreed.
There was a good opinion piece recently about all the strong arm authoritarians moving into positions of power around the world. The opinion was that this happens when people are unhappy, losing ground economically, and feel threatened. They look to the authoritarians to bring stability and a return to "how things were".
I have always said that "people" will not rise up against their government until they feel they have nothing left to lose. I think that reflects the same sentiment. Sadly, the US is failing to meet its citizens needs and the result is a splintering and that is not good.
Democracy only works when people have faith in it.