A little dark, but to the point, Mike (plus a great picture : -). Government by the people is best consumed when the people are grouped in relatively small numbers. However, even if we cut all nations up to contain no more than -say- 40 million people, then there will be leaders and laggards, Simply, because something else is going on as well.
Next to geography (being on the mouth of a long navigable river brings its benefits, for instance), there is also the political system.
The first solid nation-state to conquer the world via capitalism is the UK (after taking over from the short-lived Dutch hegemony), and we know that it stayed in place for three centuries. It caused the creation of Germany and Italy. It caused the establishment of larger governments, and they weren't all that friendly.
What had happened was that the UK created a winner-take-all nation, and was highly successful. The US is the successor of the UK; I’d say in a nicer version.
Fast-forward to the 1980s, when things weren't going well for the UK and the US. Instead of transforming themselves, the UK and the US doubled-down, and made competition fiercer than before. They took money from society and handed the benefits to the entrepreneurs and the investors. It sure changed the world. The race to the bottom succeeded.
The other nations could not stay behind, and upped their game, too. Perhaps it is for this reason that the Soviet Union failed (though I think it was Chernobyl).
The only way forward is through reform as you indeed point out. We can't move into China, Russia or any other nation and enforce democracy. We know it isn't working. China may not be the nice nation once it is in top-dog position…. Again, let’s focus on nations being smaller.
What is working is the better form of democracy with Proportional Voting. Instead of voters competing with voters for establishing a political elite, like we have, we should get the full-representative form of democracy.
By eliminating one round of Majority Rule (we have two rounds in our UK and US voting systems), the voters can pull their elitist and competing governments down to a more human level.
In the US, the Local Revolutions grassroots movement is doing just that. They (we) are calling on local governments to implement Proportional Voting for local elections because the US Constitution demands it.
Small steps. It is the only way to make this a better world.
Come join.
'The best democracy, the worst democracy'
https://fred-rick.medium.com/the-best-democracy-the-worst-democracy-aae6c797fe01
