[Xellos-_^]

Political patronage isn't economic development, but it has helped satisfy the immediate daily needs of the "50 percent of the population whose top priority is survival," says veteran pollster Raúl Obregón. And for Nicaragua's huddled masses, basic needs take priority over democracy. Obregón's M&R poll shows that 54.6% of the population thinks it's okay to sacrifice a little institutional democracy to resolve socioeconomic problems, while 33% claim they don't care how a leader gets into power, so long as he resolves peoples' hardships. "People are saying, 'Democracy doesn't feed me; it doesn't fill my stomach,'" says Obregón.

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...098720,00.html

A point the High Minded West can't seem to grasp.