Kakistocracy is defined as government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens. Since this is a blog about language, I won't take time to point a finger; you know who you are. The kakist- segment is the superlative form of the Greek word kakos, bad. The -cracy combining form comes from the Greek kratia, strength or power.
Normally, the -kak- letter combination is rendered as -cac-. We find it spelled that way in the words cacophony (harsh sound) and cacography (wretched handwriting).
An allied form of government is ochlocracy, mob rule. It is based on the Greek word okhlos, crowd, mob, multitude.
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Monday, May 22, 2006
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