Well, okay, so lets suppose that society #1 wins. But then there's another question worth posing. Will the elite's loss of control over the politicians result in them ultimately being taxed out of existence, so to speak, with democracy eventually deciding on a 100% estate tax or the like, and if this happens, does the society then end up looking a lot like Marx's post-capitalist communism (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-scarcity_economy) where, presumably, the state is the only meaningful employer and pretty much decides who gets what. And how long would a free media last under such a scenario? I guess the question I'm asking is how durable is freedom in the face of extreme automation. If it's durable, then all those democracies in Traveller can exist, but if it's not, then I don't see why they would.