Abraham Lincoln was pleased with himself when he came up with the line:
—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Fair—it’s a good line.
The whole idea of “of the people, by the people, for the people” is the centerpiece of democracy.
Unfortunately, “the people” are unpleasant. So democracy ends up being unpleasant. But unpleasant tends to be a dream compared to the alternatives. Elon talked about this:
I think that the protection of the collective is important. I think it was Churchill who said, “Democracy’s the worst of all systems of government, except for all the others.” It’s fine if you have Plato’s incredible philosopher king as the king, sure. That would be fine. Now, most dictators do not turn out that way. They tend to be quite horrible.
In other words, democracy is like escaping from a monster by hiding in a sewer.
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