[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

In my view, the problem is that the people who are most likely to rise to power are ruthless and single-minded, whereas those who make the right decisions tend to be more thoughtful and reflective. Also, particularly in a democracy, power goes to those with quick, simple answers, which seldom achieve much in the long run. Increasingly I see Plato's ideal of a benign dictatorship as the way forward, but such a thing has never been and can never exist.

Tolkien felt that the two best systems were total anarchy and absolute monarchy, and this comes out in his fiction: the Shire is a nicely balanced society, in which there's just enough control to keep things running smoothly, but not so much that life there becomes onorous. Nobody's administrative position entitles them to special status, and the attitude towards authority is largely one of good-natured tolerance. The only absolute authority is that of the King, but his presence is remote and unreal. It would be nice to live in a world so simple, but people would have to build it, and I'm not sure that they have the will or the ability. After all, people have built every society that exists, and I'm not sure that I like any of them.