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Old 11-02-2003, 07:27 AM   #9
Lily Bracegirdle
Wight
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Bree
Posts: 210
Lily Bracegirdle has just left Hobbiton.
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As Iarwain said, the most efficient/progressive ruler is the benevolent despot, so life under Elessar Telcontar would have been pretty good, I guess. Democracy compensates for the fact that most despots aren't good and is the best system for real-world governments, IMO.

But on topic, isn't ME supposed to be a mythic/prehistoric Britain? If so, it would be weird if democracy (a Greek invention) were the order of the day. It's ok for Hobbits, because they no longer exist in our world and had no influence on how things were run in the rest of ME, but if the Numenoreans had democracy, Tolkien would have to explain why it disappeared later in Britain's history. Plus, democracy is never the first government a society comes up with. First come warlords, then kings, then maybe some kind of republic... etc.

What do you think?

-Lily
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