I don't think democracy failed us. We are failing ourselves by giving up too easily on it. And I don't think democracy was too early for us. It never is. You talk about fear. Well, do you think there is any less fear in an autocratic society? You talk about fear, but you should also be ready to listen to the plight of these Maoists, afterall they are Nepali too. I might buy the argument that some people at the top may be power-hungry lunatics, but surely not all of the thousands upon thousands of the fighters? What is their motivation? What is the reason that has pushed them to be part of the movement? It is correct that we have so many problems, poor rule of law being one that you point out. Well, in a framework where people make their voices heard will this be taken care of properly. Otherwise the whole state machinery will plainly be a "rent-generating" machinery. To develop laws that are good for us, to the majority of us, we have to have a peoplecracy, whether you call it democracy or not. And yeah, I don't think democracy was too early for us. Why do you say that? Why do people say that? Just because we finally started to hear the oppressed voices in our society during democracy? Hey, it was a wake up call for us, not a signal to shrink back into our shell like a turtle. In democracy, we hear those voices, whether we want to or not. The way forward is to practice more democracy and try to deal with the issues. Of course, there is no immediate answer - no one has faced such a situation before. But a solution can be worked out/will be worked out if people are put first. If people are not put first, and politics is ruled by strong-men, then we will only perpetuate the problems in our society till eternity. The solution is to step forward, not backwards. Just an example, don't read too literally on this: When the US was independent, how many laws did they have? How many people were educated? How much infrastructure (physical, human) did they have? But was democracy too early for them in 1776? It seems to have worked! And there were hard times - hell there was a big civil war! But things worked out without having a strong man. Now, is there no corruption in the US? Does that stop the system? How much of that really matters to the system? And talking about voter fraud, you should really see this movie, The Great McGinty. Anyways, more if you respond, HF