From John Adams' :
"Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either. … Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
If we understand that governments are inherently complex/chaotic systems we have to agree that collapse is inevitable... though in practice such a system at least theoretically can last almost indefinitely. (this idea of collapse inevitability is rooted in mathematics).
Of course the same collapse inevitability is true of a monarchy... though it can likely be more durable since it attempts to suppress chaotic elements and impose order.
The challenge is that vibrancy in a civilization requires a tolerance for a greater degree of 'chaos' in a civilization.
SO... free societies are always more difficult and balancing between the fall towards anarchy versus the reach toward authoritarianism is a battle that literally CAN'T ever end.
Hence... Democracy is a preferred but very persistent pain-in-the-ass.
Right now we're drifting towards authoritarianism (in my opinion.. hence I tend toward the Left).
At another time (speaking for myself at least)... I might find myself drifting to the Right.
HENCE... any "quasi-religious" conviction in either a Left or Right direction.. is not seeing the larger situation.
Its about maintaining the balance (i.e. criticality: a balance between order and chaos).
Of course we all can and do disagree about which direction the civilization is moving at any particular time.
As is evident every day I turn on the news.
Whether or not this realization is usable in any rigorous sense... is a question for Hari Seldon.. but worth thinking about.
This is why I hate the question "Are you a conservative or a liberal? Left or Right?"
I literally don't know how to answer... on which issue? And do you mean today or tomorrow?
