Meanwhile, 44 percent backed the American tradition of competing branches of government as a model, if sometimes āfrustrating,ā system.
Why would people want to live under an authoritarianās thumb? Itās rooted, experts say, in a psychological need for securityāreal or perceivedāand a desire for conformity, a goal that becomes even more acute as the country undergoes dramatic demographic and social changes. People also like to obey a strong leader who will protect the groupāespecially if it is the ārightā group whose interests will be protected. Recall the Trump supporter who, during the 2019 government shutdown, complained, āHeās not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.ā
I hate a military dictatorship but to play devilās advocate: South Korea and Taiwan?
Iām not saying their transition to democracies was bloodless or clean but they managed. Those two are extreme examples and not models, one country built after a war that split the country in two, the other fleeing the mainland to create its own state. But Iām stretching to find a better example.
FTFY - so-called āliberal democracyā is about as democratic as āsocial darwinismā is Darwinist. And those are two terrible examples to use - they only went pretend-democratic after the fascist regimes murdered and tortured any elements in society that could be called democratic with a straight face.
If thatās what you want for the US you might just as well start marching with the fascists.
Taiwan probably fared better than Korea in that regard.
Arent both democracies now?
That was my point, these hand-picked examples didnāt end up as hellholes. That said, it wasnāt always smooth, lots of blood in SKās hand. I was playing devilās advocate.
In any case, the USA is not in the desperate situation these countries were in.