694. Does Democracy Really Need Elections?

U S just held its midterm elections and as in most midterms the party of the president got spanked, although this spanking was worse than usual, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with President Trump and his policies. So now the Democrats will get their turn running Congress. Until the voters throw them out. That's how our electoral system works. Are you pleased?

With that system? Many people aren't. A recent New York Times Siena poll found that 43% of voters are dissatisfied with both parties. And those are the people who vote, roughly half of eligible voters don't even bother. Like every other system that needs reform, whether it's healthcare or education or taxes, our electoral system is a thicket.

that gets thicker by the day, layer upon layer of Good intentions, bad intentions, vested interests. Collusion and corruption. And good old sludge. A system with those characteristics is inevitably hard to reform, maybe even purposely hard, since the people with the most power to change things generally have the least incentive to change.

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