272: Is Democracy a Universal Value?

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/democracy-universal-value. Americans value democracy, and expect others to value it. But is it a universal value? Does God, or rationality, or something very basic about human sensibility, dictate that states should be organized democratically? What if there were empirical evidence that some non-democratic form of government is more likely to produce human happiness, cultural achievement, and sound money? John and Ken consider the universality of democratic values with Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of "The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World."