Here's where everyone is getting confused on the "democracy" vs. "no-democracy" thing. In reality, democracy is not neccesarily important. All it is is a mechanism to hold decision makers responsible for their decisions. The important thing that differentiates a decent country from a hell-hole country is not democracy but the rule of law. It doesn't matter if you country is ostensibly democratic when the government can arrest, torture and murder people with impunity. Holding elections is meaningless under these circumstances. Even the Soviet Union used to hold elections, for crying out loud. Of course the communists always won since if you didn't vote communist you'd find yourself in a labor camp in Siberia. Examples of the reverse are harder to find, since democracy is a useful tool in maintaining the rule of law. Perhaps traditional societies could be an example. The elections in Iran are not quite on that scale, but close. The elected officials serve at the pleasure of the un-accountable imams. And of course, people can be arrested at will, there are no protections for freedom of speech, etc, etc, etc. That's the litmus test, whether you can print a newspaper declaring the ruler of the country a jerk and not face imprisonment or worse. Much more important than democracy. ===== Darryl Think Galactically -- Act Terrestrially __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
