This whole concept of &quot;mature democracy&quot;, like &quot;developed country&quot;, especially the implied transcendence and permanence, is just our own historical ego.  It&#x27;s really only been a thing for the last century or so, maybe a bit longer for the US and UK.  This is but a brief flash of light in a history of darkness for freedom.  Like Ben Franklin said, we have &quot;a republic, if you can keep it&quot;. Despite all of our technology, the human condition is fundamentally unchanged. We are subject to the same forces that felled Athens and Rome, and the same forces that made them great.