"Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse."
Jawaharlal Nehru
The observation of Mr. Nehru about the goodness of democracy finds broad agreement among the world's citizens and, in fact, most of the countries on the planet elect their leaders.
While it is true that elected leaders might be tempted and even succumb to a range of temptations offered by their positions of power, the people will decide in the next election if any infractions committed were serious enough to outweigh the ability of the leader in question to govern well. In contrast, history has shown that even the most benevolent, but unelected, leader must struggle to govern well and unelected leaders often succumb to temptations.
It is important to realize that just holding an election does not guarantee democracy. After all, some countries hold an election and the elected leader becomes ruler for life! The leader, after being elected, may censor the press to squelch dissenting voices, manipulate the courts so that the rule of law is compromised, enfeeble the legislature so that policies are constrained, and take advantage of position to gain illicit wealth.
So, knowing all this, we were privileged to observe the 2009 parliamentary elections in India, arguably the greatest exercise of democracy on the planet. Links to our observations follow:
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