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Probably the most famous product of the Enlightenment was the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution,
启蒙运动最著名的成果可能就是美国的《独立宣言》和《宪法》了
a blueprint for a form of governance that tried to get the benefits of government—
这是政府形成的蓝图 试图获得政府这种形式的好处——
seeing as how anarchy is worse because you get spirals of vendetta and feuding and violence—
因为人们已经见识到了无政府状态的恶劣 深陷仇恨 争执和暴力的漩涡——
You don’t get the coordination of large scale economies without some kind of governance;
如果没有统治 就无法实现大规模的经济合作
Trying to get the benefits of governance without the perennial hazard
试图获得统治的好处 同时还免去了
that anyone given a bit of power will aggrandize their power and become despotic.
常年存在的任何人稍微得势就想扩大权力实行暴政的危险
So the checks and balances of American democracy were a way of –
所以美国民主之间的制衡就是——
I think of it as negotiating a middle route between the violence of anarchy (and anarchy does lead to violence—
我觉得它就像是无政府状态下的暴力（无政府状态确实会引发暴力——
We were never noble savages that lived in harmony.
我们绝不是能和谐相处的高贵的野蛮人
Regions of the world without government are almost invariably violent) but also avoiding the violence of tyranny.
世界上没有政府的地区几乎都难逃暴力）和专政下的暴力之间的一种折中
Mainly you give someone power, they’re going to use it to maximize their benefits, their power,
专政就是某些人拥有权力 他们会牺牲人民的利益
their longevity of their reign at the expense of people.
让自己的利益 权利和统治时间最大化
Democracy is a way of steering between these extremes,
民主就是在这两种极端情况中斡旋
of having a government that exerts just enough violence to prevent people from preying on each other without preying on the people itself.
让政府有足够的力量去防止人们互相残杀 同时又不足以吞食人民的利益
Now in practice no one has ever developed a democracy that works particularly well if judged in absolute terms.
事实上 从严格意义上来说 还没有人创造出极其完美的民主制度
Democracies are always messy, they’re always unequal.
民主往往很肮脏 不平等
They always involve lobbying and power grabs.
通常都包含游说和夺权
But all the alternatives so far have been worse.
但目前为止 我们所拥有的其他选择都更烂
Democracies seldom go to war with each other.
在民主制度下 我们很少发生战争
They have higher standards of living.
人们有了更高的生活水平
They have higher levels of happiness.
幸福指数也更高
They have higher levels of health.
健康水平也有所提升
And they’re the obvious preferred destinations for people who vote with their feet.
对那些用脚投票的人而言 这明显是他们更喜欢的形式
The whole world wants to live in a democracy.
全世界都想生活在民主之下
It’s an ongoing project.
这是一条未竞之路
It’s currently under threat from a number of directions, but there’s never been a time in which we’ve had a
目前民主受到了几种方向的挑战 但我们绝不可能实现
well-functioning democracy in terms of meeting all the criteria in a high school civics class.
满足高中公民学课堂上所讲的所有标准的民主
