Democracy is a method of Government of the ‘People’ for ‘All the People’. Not a dictatorship of the ‘Majority’ nor appeasement of any ‘Minority’, but with an empathetic understanding of the interests of All. However, as any such system cannot really be designed for all times, a good system should allow for means to continually effect appropriate changes in the system by changes in the leadership through regular and peaceful elections.
Though I agree complete conformity to traditional pattern of behavior will not help, an optimistic civilization can learn a lot from looking back into tradition. There should be a balance. I don’t think they should be strongly demarcated as pessimistic and optimistic civilization. This may result in valuable knowledge acquired by many generation of experience. Enjoyed reading it. T
Pessimistic and Optimistic is describing an attitude of the relevant citizenry that seeks to learn from the past and go in to a better future.