Can democracy and the market economy address the momentous issues that Peak Oil, Energy Decline and Climate Change present?

To quote Gustave Le Bon, "The Crowd":

As yet a nation has never been able to change its beliefs without being condemned at the same time to transform all the elements of its civilisation. The nation continues this process of transformation until it has alighted on and accepted a new general belief; until this juncture it is perforce in a state of anarchy.

Le Bon is referring to nothing more than universally accepted beliefs. I think one of the unquestioned beliefs upon which modern society today is based is that energy is forever cheap and abundant. Our rampant denial of anything to the contrary is an important protection mechanism of the herd that serves to keep society intact. Society is doomed once its constituents begin to question the fundamental belief of forever cheap and abundant energy. When the crunch begins to really be felt, and the techo-fix wonder replacements remain stubbornly around the corner, reality will be forced upon us.

To believe we can transition to a much lower-energy world while retaining our civilization of today is to bet that out of all of human history, this time will be different.