General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Twas a time when people wondered how an advanced nation like Germany allowed Hitler to become ruler [View all]Tom Rinaldo
(22,912 posts)"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
" Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947
There is no fool proof form of government, nor a "golden era" when everything worked near flawlessly. Before the rabble, who neither had time nor social privilege to frequent "coffeehouses", organized into Unions, there were seven day work weeks, twelve hour days, child labor, and company stores.
I don't deny the threats that the social trends you speak of present us all with now. They are real and must be confronted, but there are potential tools available in a free and democratic society that can be used to counter those threats. It is an ongoing struggle and in that sense one could say that democracy in "an unstable form of government", one I will gladly struggle with rather than welcome the sense of stability that seems to grow in strength the more one moves closer to a totalitarian state.