Well, consider that Democracy did not actually exist, no country in this world can claim theirs are democracy. If a country have a functioning government, that country is NOT a democracy, that is what 3 years of college in international politics has taught me.
On the other hand, US were technically NEVER a democracy, United States is a republic with democratic value. But the ruling and the establishment of ruling is never a true democracy. EU or UK style majority government are technically more democratic than ours Bi-Partisan government.
As for whether or not China is a democracy, sure, if democracy mean Leader is supreme.
I agree. Plus, the real democracy is actually not the best government in the world. Because the real democracy means the "the ruling of majority". In the real democracy, all nation policy will be voted by the people directly. It looks good from the outside, but not really the best form of governing a country. Because with the vote, the majority will always win, while the minority will always lose. You can't achieve a true social justice that way. Specially when your country is very diverse in everything. From ideology, religion, races, etc. I believe that your country will be split into several smaller countries, because the minority will feel that they don't get the social justice that they deserve.
I believe that to have good government doesn't mean that you have appease everything that what your people want, but what your people need. sometime, the government need to make an unpopular policy for the sake of the country. a good government also have to think about the need of the minority (ethnics, economy, religion, etc).
But it can't be happen if your country embrace the real democracy. With real democracy, all your country policy will be something that we call as "Populist policy". A policy that will waste money for the sake of the pleasure of the people. It also will only goes into the direction of the majority. If let say the majority is catholic, while the minority is muslim, I can be sure that the minority will be pressured into non existence.
The real democracy can also be translate into the politic of the masses. In a country where the politic become the greatest interest of her people, everyone will gathering masses. Religious masses, political party masses, some kind of specific ethic masses, etc. Because with having the masses, they can have more vote and power in deciding their country policy. And when everyone have a lot of masses, then the country won't be united anymore. Specially because the people behind those masses have their own agenda / political interest.
So why a country that ruled by the people directly won't be an utopia? the answer is simple. Because people are diverse. Not everyone are angel. There are a lot of asshole, bandit, mafia, etc in our land. And those people have their own agenda / interest that give the benefit for their own group. the problem is, it is those kind of people who usually can gather the biggest masses. And with the bigger masses, means that they usually can get what they want from the vote.
So what is a good government? It simple. A good government is a clean government who do everything they could for the sake of all people. Not only the "WANT" of the majority, but for what the people NEED most. The problem is, a good government is actually can only be considered as utopia in real world. Because there is no 100% good government in human history. Everyone have their own flaw.
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