democracy and other things

"We in this part of the world seem to have such a wrong notion about the wisdom of the West that any trash blurted out there assumes the dignity of a gospel here.
Take the instance of that ridiculous absurdity known by the high sounding name of Democracy which in fact has no meaning at all, or has a heterogeneous multiplicity of meanings. Just scrutinise calmly and dispassionately what the term means, forgetting, at least for a while, what you and others already think of it. Etymologically it means "rule of the people, for the people, by the people". In practice, it may mean rule of fifty-one percent over forty-nine, or rule of a smaller number over a larger majority. It might also mean illiterate, ill-bred, unqualified ignorant nobodies imposing their obnoxious rule over superior, intelligent, honest and better qualified people who are always fewer in numbers. The whole thing from start to finish is a fraud. Very often, it is an unfair attempt on the part of a clique to wrestle power and rule in the name of a people. The very idea of the same people playing simultaneously a dual role of rulers and the ruled in the same state is fantastic in the extreme. Various devices resorted to during election campaigns to influence public opinion and canvass public support and sometimes even to buy votes still further turn the entire institution into a sinister instrument of grabbing power...
It is not very encouraging to observe that a system of government fraught with potentialities of so much mischief has enamoured a greater part of the world such that an approach to any other alternative has become almost impossible."
S. Muhammed Zauqi Shah, 1941