>...our form of democracy...is simply a tool of political manipulation...

It is, however, the least manipulative tool yet developed.

On the other hand, autocrats like G don't need to "manipulate." They routinely use murder and extortion because that's the highest form of morality they know.

The Chinese method...it's coming back to me now...the Cultural Revolution and the slaughter of millions.

But at least it wasn't "manipulative."

By way of contrast, I'll repeat what I said earlier: after four years of bloody Civil War, the liberal U.S. Government did not find it necessary to impose mass executions or even prison sentences on its enemies. Those enemies, despite their unconscionable support of slavery, were sufficiently democratic and non-"tribal" to refrain from launching decades of guerrilla (not to mention terrorist)warfare.

I'm sure Chairman Mao, brainiac of the Cultural Revolution, had a different interpretation of these events.