Have you ever wondered why our system of government is as stable as it is? Stable democracies are not normal. In fact, outside of North America and Northern Europe and absent a ruthless dictatorship, stable governments of any form aren’t all that normal:

• Over the past 200 years Haiti has had 33 coups d’état.
• Since the early 1960s, when most of the African countries began to achieve independence, more than fifty coups have taken place on the continent.
• Italy has had close to sixty governments since the country formed a democratic republic in 1946.
• The Dominican Republic has had 32 constitutions since its independence in 1844; Venezuela has had 26, Haiti 24 and Ecuador 20.
• 11 countries are near bankruptcy: They span the globe, ranging from Greece and Ukraine in Europe, to Pakistan in Asia, to Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Belize in the Americas.

What is the reason for this instability? In every case the answer is the same: they are fighting over resources. Why? Because they have rejected the Jeffersonian/Lockean principle that property rights are human rights and that people are entitled to what they produce.

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