The virtue of republicanism (representative democracy) is that it is both progressive and conservative. Conservatism opposed revolution and insurrection. It valued peace, stability, and social order. It recognized that countless people will suffer and die in any revolution.
The beauty of democracy is that it has a progressive element in it. A republican system has a democratic mechanism through which the people can change the system from within, without overthrowing government.
After the Industrial Revolution, economic conditions changed drastically & government policy did not. As a result, people rebelled & overthrew the monarchs. Under a republican system, the people can change the system fairly easily without any need for insurrection or revolution.
When the people decide that they no longer believe that prohibitions on marijuana and gay marriage are acceptable, they start to protest, practice civil disobedience, harass their politicians, and vote out the representatives that are too conservative.
This means that the people can force the system to change with the times. Republics are inherently progressive, but this allows them to have a conservative element too. Only under a republican system is perpetual stability and permanence of the State a genuine possibility.
The only way revolution/insurrection can be avoided is if the people can reform government gradually so that the masses are never so dissatisfied as to justify rebellion. This is the beauty of republicanism: it allows for change without revolution.
And republicanism has reached its highest peaks yet in Nordic social democracy and German social market systems. At the same time, republicanism in these forms is the most libertarian, as it tends to reduce or minimize the domination of man over man.
Sure, hierarchy and domination still exist in Germany and the Nordic countries, but it is far more limited than in any other society known to man. The rule of bosses and the wealthy has been put in check.
To be sure, land value tax or a wealth tax in conjunction with a universal basic income is a necessary next step for such countries, but those republics represent the peak of human progress so far.
The great republics like Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany, in spite all their flaws, are the most stable nations of all time because there’s very little reason that anyone in those countries would want to outright revolt.
Anarchists & socialists despise social democracy & social market republics because they aren't libertarian enough or socialist enough. Nevertheless, these countries have a far more libertarian and participatory form of government than others and they ensure the wellbeing of all.
The society of tomorrow will be progressive, libertarian, and conservative. It will have a republican form of government that implements social democratic programs like single-payer healthcare and it will have universal basic income. It will be a libertarian social democracy.
