US envoy voices hopefulness Thailand will return to democracy

How can you "return" to something you've never had???

Well, they had it, but when they had it, the powers-that-be didn't like it... [And if you think the system that brought Thaksin, etc., into power was not democratic because there was corruption, I suggestion you read about the nature of democracy in ancient Greece].

Democracy - Switzerland operates close to one. The rest of us put up with some variation with flaws, pros and cons and in reality get little more than the chance to vote for a national government and local governments every few years.

The system that brought Thaksin to power was democratic. There was undoubtedly corruption within that system but the governments they delivered did not operate in a democratic way.

314-0 - one hell of a party whip system that gets all MPs to vote unanimously for something a very very large slice of the electorate had made clear they didn't want; and an illegally amended bill at that.

Just curious... Do you think Ford's decision to pardon Nixon had the support of the majority the American population?

No, but it was a way to move on.

Of course, those were the days when opposing political parties compromised occasionally. Sigh.