The most useful indicator of the degree of democracy reached by a particular society is whether it has a?

Question

The most useful indicator of the degree of democracy reached by a particular society is whether it has a?

Answer 1

...whether it is contributing to the advancement of all mankind.

Answer 2

a formal method whereby people can effect changes in government policy.

Answer 3

broad spectrum of classes holding positions of leadership.The intellegence to keep an inquisitive and open mind  and make informed decisions is not dependent on wealth or class. Unfortunately obtaining a position of leadership is and this is where all 'democracies' fall short of   being such.

Answer 4

open market

Answer 5

... stupid government.

Seriously, democracy is the decision by the mayority. Since the number of wise people is much less than the ammount of ignorant people. The result of democracy is be the lowest common denominator which is stupidity.

However if the question would be the degree of civilization instead of democracy, then the answer would be.

When people are treated equal and the difference between the rich  and poor is less than 4 times.

A good indicator of civilization is the different between the level of income of the average rich person and the lever of income of the average poor. The closer they are, the better the civilization. The broader it is, the more savage society is. Tecnology or not.