The paradox, it always seems to me, is that the last person who should ever be let loose to govern others is someone who wants to make a living out of governing others. But to have a system that will work in any post-primitive system, you have to have politicians who are professionals; which inevitably introduces all sorts of incompatible variables to the equation: in terms of their needs v the public needs, their principles v their own benefit...

Who was it who said it was the worst possible system - except for all others that had ever been tried? Churchill according to a ref I googled; but I suspect it probably goes back to Socrates - & they couldn't find a counter-argument so they killed him: your much-vaunted Athenian democracy in action!...

Still, the odd thing is, we muddle thru more or less, eh?

~M~