[AIG]

Rich people, the middle class prefer democracy. On the other hand, poor people prefer socialism. Imagine if the US today had a majority-poor population. Wouldn't Gephardt and Daschle be perpetually voted into office? But if you have a majority-middle class population (developed rapidly under the guidance of one-party rule enacting economic reforms quickly), then the middle class votes in pro-capitalist politicians to sustain and support the capitalist system that made them wealthy in the first place. Democracy is nothing but a means developed by middle-classes to protect its own economic interests. At some point, any king or monarch becomes too tyrannical for the middle-class's taste so they kick out the king/fascist and adopt democracy instead. This is what happened in America. America's colonies grew rich but when the king started to tax them too much, they rebelled ("No taxation without representation!)

[Torie]

England had an independent judiciary, and an independent parliament by the 1500's to a fair degree. You still aren't dealing with the fascism bit. Read up on Nazi Germany. That strikes me as a more apt parallel for China if if is unlucky, and continues down the path that it is going. What makes China so dangerous is that the jingoistic and fascistic impulses have popular middle class support.