The following comparative analysis shows the principal characteristics of the three forms of government:
Autocracy: Authority is derived through heredity. People have no choice in the selection of their rulers and no voice in making of the laws. Results in arbitrariness, tyranny, and oppression. Attitude toward property is feudalistic. Attitude toward law is that the will of the ruler shall control, regardless of reason or consequences.
Democracy: A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of “direct” expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. Results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.