How true it was when Plato said, "Democracy does not choose the best leader; it chooses the best liar."
And this is why every single democracy fails eventually. Democracy does
not reward wisdom; it rewards persuasion. The one who understands
reality loses to the one who can manipulate perception. The
honest lose to the charming. The dedicated lose to the theatrical.
Plato said the heaviest penalty for decline in power was to be ruled by
someone inferior.
And that was not moral advice; that was the law of
power. When competence withdraws, manipulation advances. When truth is
costly, lies become efficient. And when popularity decides authority,
deception is always the strategy. Democracy does not collapse
from the outside. It hollows itself from within, and when the lies
finally shake the system, the ending is predictable. The people don't
resist tyranny; they beg for it. That's how bad things have to get: they
beg for it.