I will get back to you and others on some of the contentions raised against my little dissent (#22). But I just had to respond to your closing thought. It is precisely because I would hope to see more freedom among peoples, that I dissent from the idea of trying to foist Democracy on them. Democracy, as Madison observed so clearly in the Federalist Papers, is not a means to greater freedom. It is quite the opposite.
I will try to find the time to get back here, later today, to more fully develop my points. It is vital to understand the political/social dynamics involved in this argument. And it is sad how few Conservatives seem to do so. We have let the Left clothe a particular procedure for choosing Governments with a mystical power that it does not have. The key to freedom is a general understanding and acceptance by those who hold political power, however that power may be delegated or devolve, on the limitations on what is a legitimate exercise of political power. Americans once understood this concept as second nature. We no longer do so; and rather than lecturing the world on Government, we need a time for rediscovery of our own lost wisdom.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site