>If anybody who does it is instantly brought up on charges with severe penalties then nobody does it. But that's bad.
I don't think it's bad. Similar to closed and open source software there is room for closed and open societies. They are different approaches that have different pros and cons.
Okay, let's go with your approach. Then the closed society is China or Iran and the open society is the US and other western countries, right? In which case we shouldn't have any such thing in the open countries.
>China or Iran and the open society is the US and other western countries, right?
Sure, but of course it isn't black and white.
>In which case we shouldn't have any such thing in the open countries.
I still think being able to effectively apply the will of We the People would be good to do. Being afraid that the people will be able to want for something you don't like to happen is disrespectful to the will of the people.