This struck me:

Been catching up with my reading, so no new post today, either, but something to think about:

"Confucius said:

"When all under Heaven are with the way, the rites, music and military conquests are initiated by the son of heaven. When all under heaven are not with the way, the rites, music and military conquests are initiated by the lords.

"When initiated by the lords, they rarely last beyond ten generations (a Chinese generation is 30 years). When initiated by the officials, they rarely last beyond five generations. When the destiny of the state is in the hands of the officials to the family, they rarely last beyond three generations. When all under heaven are with the way, rulership is not for the officials. When all under heaven are with the way, there is no discussion amongst the people."

- Analects, chapter sixteen, verse two.

Monarchies lasted for centuries before giving way to democracies. Democracies...well, the Wiemar Republic fell in about 20 years, while the US has been puttering around for about a century since universal suffrage.

Vox Day estimates the average democratic lifespan as 50-70 years, with modern technology distorting that and allowing the can to be kicked down the road a little longer, but as we can see right before our very eyes, that illusion of so-called democracy is rapidly disintegrating into a world of jackboots.

It amuses me that the inherent instability-to-democratisation relationship was acknowledged as far as two millenia ago.