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Athens was a totally different sort of regime in a totally different technological and historical context. Our experiment with representative government is infinitely more sophisticated and has the potential of lasting far, far longer than 200 years.
It seems that virtually everyone in every generation thinks the world is going to become a shithole once the next generation takes over. Hasn't happened yet, IMO.
The U.S. still has the world's best army, the world's largest economy, and widespread political legitimacy. If the people believe the government represents them and if they are not living in poverty, the regime will be stable from within. Our army is sufficient to protect us from overseas threats.
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The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
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