I agree - that's why it's just as important to maintain the culture of western democracy, government driven by an idea and not by people. If we lose that then the laws won't protect us either.

A relevant description I heard that I liked was that democracy is a boulder at the top of a hill that was pushed there by the deaths of millions, ready to roll down at any time. It takes work to keep things in that state and to protect it.

And when they're being written by lobbyists from Wal-Mart and Target...

Or AT&T, GM, Amazon, and all the other biggest members of the Fortune 100.