What parties should form governments?

[Brad De Long]

>So are you one of the people who thinks that Greece would have been a
> happier place since WWII if its politics had been more like those of
> Bulgaria?
>
>>From the looks of your comment above, sounds like you don't accept
>democracy (in this case, the will of the people), when you don't agree
>with the results.  Greece probably would have gone Red, and by the will
>of the people, not through any Soviet intervention...

Jeff Sommers

<irony> That's why the Communists boycotted the Greek election of 1946.</irony>

There are deep, deep questions about what political democracies should do
when confronted with profoundly anti-democratic parties--those that claim
to derive their powers from the will of the leader or the possession of
books of holy writ that contain the key to the riddle of history.

I am of the view that even anti-democratic parties should be allowed to
form governments, and that the time to resist with every means possible is
when the government moves against the democratic process--in 1933, for
example, with the Reichstag fire.

This may be giving too much to anti-democratic forces, but I can't figure
out any other consistent position that I don't think would result in worse
outcomes...

Brad DeLong