I had an interesting conversation with a Bahraini supporter of Iran's government, regarding democracy. He pointed at flaws in the US system. I defended them. I

I had an interesting conversation with a Bahraini supporter of Iran's government, regarding democracy. He pointed at flaws in the US system. I defended them. I pointed at flaws in the Iranian system. He defended them. We both had good points. F.ex. in his version, the Guardian Council's vetting and required approval of candidates was because "You couldn't have a goat herder be elected president." Which, valid point! It sucks for everyone when democracies elect incompetent people. It's a tension between purer democracy (risking bad winners, but increasing freedom) and more restricted democracy (decreasing risk, but also freedom). There's a reason Kant defined the categorical imperative [0] to cut all ways: because right must be right everywhere, for everyone. "Right for me", but "wrong for you" is indefensible. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative