Democracy is the ultimate pragmatic system possible. Socialism and capitalism both are ideal and can never be completely achieved in the real world. Democracy smoothens out the sharp transition between the capitalism and socialism and achieve the maximally possible efficiency in inherently imperfect society.

When people talk about socialism as the thing of the past and give Russia and Eastern Europe as examples of its failure and capitalism as the panacea for every possible problem and give US and modern Europe as the examples, then they appear like bunch of fools. Capitalism and socialism both hate democracy. Despite high level propoganda, freedom and sovereignty is not loved in US, and in imperfect capitalist society where big corporations have more say than the common people whose lives are at stake, democracy is never welcom. In the imperfect capitalism, it is the big coroporations that have huge chunk of market share to loose when completely democratic market is allowed. In socialism, full democracy threatens the existence of central authority itself. Democracy on the other hand socialist as well as capitalist at the same time. Whatever depending upon the time circumstances is good for the society is chosen not based upon its idealistic value, but simply as its pragmatic value.