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by ben_w 72 days ago
> I can’t be ashamed of democracy.

Shame, in a democratic system, is good for exactly the same reason it is good for individuals to be able to feel it.

Every system of government has a failure mode. There are no exceptions: anarchy fails to strong men with big sticks, democracy fails to demagogues, hereditary aristocracy to literal inbreeding, dictatorships to sycophantic courtiers, etc.

A democracy that one cannot be ashamed of is simply one in which the same demagogues can keep trying as many times as it takes.