I notice recruitment in Rome is way off of 31 B.C. levels, too. Maybe the first sign of a failing democracy is the unwillingness of kids to die for it.
How to solve that problem, and on the way, also prevent democracy from devolving into tyranny? I've heard no better suggestion than Robert Heinlein's -- require service as a requisite for full citizenship, and use that service to indoctrinate kids with the cost, gravity, and responsibility of wielding the franchise, so that maybe some of them will vote the interests of future generations, instead of their own naked envy.
The problem with democracy has always been how to limit the franchise to the competent without infringing on the rights of the incompetent. Sadly, our founding preceded Heinlein's solution by about 200 years. I think it's probably too late now to implement it.
|