The theory was this: the less the demotic presence, the more likely that the populace would defer to men of talent, judgment, and political experience--a governing class composed largely of lawyers, financiers, and plantation owners who would serve the common good although not necessarily all classes to the same extent. Thus was reborn the idea of a republican elite. The aim, which Madison, Hamilton, Adams and several other members of the emerging political class bluntly stated, was to ensure that the new regime, while abstractly based upon "the people," would be directed by the representatives of wealth, status (slave-owners), and achievement rather than of democratic majorities.
Emperor Joseph II said, "Everything for the people, nothing by the people."
It was inevitable that, given how the constitution was designed to prevent a majority from emerging, the US would end up where it is today, a plutocracy. The only remedy against the political power that comes from great wealth is a vigorous democracy.
Of course, democracy is in a weakened state in Europe as well:
Ruling the Void? The Hollowing of Western Democracy
But at least European countries are not subject to the corrupting effects of running an empire. A bomb, H bomb, Minuteman / The names get more attractive / The decisions are made by NATO / The press call it British opinion -- The Three Johns
The start of capitalism depends on the definition, with some definitions it well predates Absolutism.
It is hard for despots to be enlightened and progress-minded if they have to deal with powerful monied interests.
Absolutism was a restoration of royal power against both powerful feudal and monied interests. Earlier kings were already dependent on bankiers to fight their wars. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Democracy, by and large, was a convenient ideology to foment a revolution when the plutocrats and the nobility ceased to be coterminous.
Liberty and freedom and individual inalienable rights and all that jazz just piggybacked on that trend.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
