[newgeezer]

If you look at the development of historical events in Eastern Europe, you'll notice that very few of those governments were reformed from within. For the most part, they rotted from the inside and were toppled from the outside.

Uh, okay. So, (... wondering what that has to do with the situation here, ...) exactly how many of those governments were representative republics?

[Alberta's Child]

. . . exactly how many of those governments were representative republics?

When you are dealing with an electorate as dumb as ours, does it really matter? Totalitarian governments are not the only ones that rot from within, as evidenced by almost every "representative" government in the West.