It's remarkable that this quote shows up on nearly every thread where somebody criticizes democracy on a non-specialist website. It's like the creationist asser

It's remarkable that this quote shows up on nearly every thread where somebody criticizes democracy on a non-specialist website. It's like the creationist assertion that life is too complex to arise by chance. The phrase short-circuits all discussion and protects the wielder from any doubt or any need to reconsider his beliefs. Many people in history have thought their current way of doing things was pretty nifty and everything that came before was barbarism and idiocy. We have to be a little more open-minded than that to get at true or useful ideas. There is certainly something suboptimal about a government that can't pass a bill smaller than the size of a dictionary, or that in theory and practice protects concentrated interests at the expense of the broader good. I have my doubts that the American state is in a sustainable equilibrium given the astounding irrationality and paralysis of the legislative process. On specialist websites, people might be familiar with the existence of an entire sub-discipline of economics dedicated to explaining the incentives facing voters and governments (Public Choice) and the historical lessons of hundreds of different governing forms in human history, so the discussion thankfully extends beyond Churchill's quote.