Slow going

After being around for 17 years, watching the democracy at work, I can say now that the defining characteristic of a well developed democracy is its slowness.

Nothing happens fast, and if something does, chances are it will be redone later, when the slow grind had its chance. Things change on the scale of years. Even relatively fast events, like cleaning up the state Capitol in Wisconsin take weeks here - events that would be over in hours oin any normal dictatorship.