Universal suffrage and progressive governance (social engineering) were promoted as benevolent updates to the Western democratic system to create a fairer, more just, and kinder world. Like so many utopian fairytales designed to put an end to abusive systems of the past, the alleged solutions to the shortcomings of older hierarchical democratic systems seemed unquestionably sensible and profoundly moral - at least in theory. And yet, wherever this modern updated version of democracy was introduced, including in the West itself, the result has been an unmitigated disaster as the destructive incentives of these "updates" take their toll. In this essay, Julius Ruechel explores why these "updates" to Western democracy failed both Western and non-Western societies alike, leading to corrupt and tyrannical strongman rule in so many countries outside of the West and to the suffocating bureaucratic stagnation, rampant corruption, and growing resentment that is now threatening to tear the West itself apart. From this story, a series of new updates emerge to fix what was broken. Retreating to the past in which many were denied access to political representation is not an option. But republics tend to transform themselves into strongman rule to escape dysfunctional democracy if the chaos is allowed to continue for too long. There is another way...
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