I was really shocked when a Brazilian friend of mine was longing for the days of military dictatorship. Why on earth would he support a dictatorship? Because of

I was really shocked when a Brazilian friend of mine was longing for the days of military dictatorship. Why on earth would he support a dictatorship? Because of crazy murder rates and crime. .001% of the population can destroy popular support for Democracy, if the democratic government isn't able to keep them in check. And you see this pattern everywhere. * A small number of anti-social homeless can destroy all the public spaces in a city. * A small number of disruptive students in a class prevents everyone else from getting an education. * A small number of vandals can destroy beautiful public spaces for everyone. * A small number of shoplifters can shutdown stores all across a city etc. How society protects itself from the tail of anti-social behavior is going to determine in large part how successful the society will be. And unfortunately in the West we are focusing so much on whether the tail is being treated unfairly and how it can be reformed rather than whether the rest of society is being protected from the tail at all. This type of tail mismanagement is a good way to lose popular support not only for democracy but for many other institutions (e.g. schools, local governments). This is how people turn to private security, vigilante groups, gated communities, private schools, and in general lose a sense of solidarity and social cohesion.