Re: Eliot Spitzer, antismoking leader, self-destructs

On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:14:24 +1300, "Pete Dashwood"
<dashwood@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>IMPOSING Democracy on anyone is simply...undemocratic.

Agreed.   But Democracy should not be an end in itself - it should be
a tool to achieve better life for the people with fewer risks that the
State will do harm to the people.    As such it has a better track
record than many other forms of government, at least when it is
limited by a powerful constitution.

But it can be corrupted.

>Some countries may not work well under Democracy. It is not a perfect
form 
>of Government, simply better than the alternatives. For Democracy to work

>you need responsible, thinking citizens who can separate Church and
State.

I'm interested in the new China.   It has built up a non-hereditary
class of rulers that get support from the previous generation's
rulers.   I suspect it can't keep this up without getting another Mao,
but it might.    Trouble is with governments, we can't roll back time
to test how different the people would be with democracy or with
traditional despots.