"It’s bad enough being a failing empire. Let’s not also be a delusional failing empire. Let’s at least have some dignity about our situation."
A callout to this classic scene https://youtu.be/PZlwofdi3yg?t=106
@mtraven23
> "I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such [...] this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government."
(Benjamin Franklin, speaking at the constitutional convention on September 17, 1787)
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/constitutionalconvention-september17.htm
It seems to reflect Plato's belief that democracy tends to degenerate into tyranny. Is that somehow subconsciously built into the system?