[brookst]

I like your optimistic take. My more cynical one is that what’s happening in the US shows that real change is achieved through corruption and lying: honest policy discussions and iterative improvement stand no chance against a charismatic populist who will say anything to entrench an oligarchy.

[vladms]

It's not primarily optimistic. I just think that education of the people can bring the best improvement on the long run, and not adjusting democracy, demonizing rich guys or another "new" system.

While I hope iterative improvement is the way, I think there are people that have it (or feel) so bad (due to various reasons) that they would take a 50% chance to die for the chance to live better.

The charismatic populists are not supported only by people that are well off, without any worry (neither in US, nor in Europe). (ex: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1535295/presidential-ele...)