The most famous quotes in praise of democracy do not make a principled case for it. If, as Winston Churchill claimed, it is the worst form of government bar all the others “that have been tried”, then verifiable outcomes are what matter. “No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy,” found the economist Amartya Sen, implying, once more, that utility is the test. Popular self-rule is to be preferred because it allows for better results, not because it is right in and of itself.
贊美民主制度的最著名引語，并未給民主制度提供一個有原則的充分理由。假設(shè)正如溫斯頓?丘吉爾(Winston Churchill)所言，民主是最糟糕的政府形式——除了其他所有“已被嘗試過的”制度之外，那么可驗證的結(jié)果才是真正重要的。經(jīng)濟學家阿瑪?shù)賮?森(Amartya Sen)指出：“在世界歷史上，運轉(zhuǎn)正常的民主國家從未發(fā)生過饑荒?！边@再次暗示，實際效果才是檢驗標準。民眾的自治會受到青睞，是因為它可以帶來更好的結(jié)果，而不是因為它本身是正確的。