Democracy with a state is the best system anyone has come up with in terms of being able to have a populace running inside a hamster wheel without having to put a gun to their head...you seriously cannot tell me that the population in a democracy has any more external freedom than a dictatorship when it is a demonstrable fact so many citizens marched off to their own deaths in a pointless war called Vietnam. Muhammad Ali didn't go because he understood the war made no sense, and he got thrown into jail. You're talking differences on paper, but in reality, there's no real practical difference.
Conversely, you are being far to cynical. Vietnam was quite some time ago. And even that war had limited conscription. I believe it is now considered a significant foreign policy mistake, although the US continues to make many of those.
I am not just talking differences on paper. G7 nations may not be corruption free, but they all have free and fair elections (surely you don't believe Trump's BS to the contrary). Many countries demonstrably don't. Russia, Venezuela, many African nations. I'm not even sure if North Korea or China even bother with sham elections where there is only one party to vote for (they might, but god knows why). Also, I can openly criticize government politicians with no fear of reprisals. Try that in Russia/China/PRK. You won't have your freedom for long. There are no drug cartels running roughshod over neighborhoods murdering politicians or judges who they can't bribe. Islamic
I could go on an on. There is a vast practical difference.
Those low corruption indexes are garbage, people don't engage in the sophisticated analysis required to sniff out the corruption in G7 countries. Keep in mind that the opiates of the masses includes more than just religion....it also includes keeping people numbed out through hedonistic comforts. So just because your standard of living may be higher doesn't mean that your external freedoms or quality of life are any higher or that you've attained any type of truer happiness. It just means that more people in your country have been programmed to associate quality of life with the attainment of status and other false needs -- working hard in order to consume, consume, consume, so they keep that hamster wheel spinning.
Again, I don't agree. Standard of living being higher is directly correlated with happiness. I have never gone hungry or not had a roof over my head. I have next to no fear of criminal thugs threatening me or my property (random shit can happen, but it is generally rare). I was granted the opportunity for free primary and secondary education and reasonably priced post secondary education. This is true of almost all G7 countries (except maybe the US when it comes to post secondary costs). If I need health care I will generally get it at no direct cost (i.e. I pay via taxes). Maybe not in as timely a fashion as I like, but things can't be that bad or life expectancy in G7 countries wouldn't be among the highest in the world.
Sure people have to work. But back in more primitive times, people had to spend almost all their waking hours laboring just to provide themselves with food and shelter. 40 hours a week or so is hardly unbearable. And for that I get a lot of creature comforts over and above basic necessity. I like those comforts, they make me happy.
I'm an INTP so status means nothing to me. I don't I have any false needs. I base my consumption based on what I can afford and what I want. I carry no significant debt so I cannot be forced to stay on the treadmill. If less savvy folks buy into advertising and status seeking behavior and get caught in a cycle of living beyond their means, that is hardly the result of social democracy.
