My theory is that America has the same sort of pathological societal faith in elections as it does in capitalism. This sort of pure, naive, childlike faith that the system will just sort of arrange it so that the best and most appropriate thing happens, and anything which stands in the way of that, be it truth in political advertising laws or consumer safety protections, gets in the way of the best possible outcome.
Not everyone, of course. It seems to be less common as you go further left, and more pathological as you get further to the right.
And of course it’s bullshit. Yet the idea that some jobs should be assigned on skill and experience and professionalism rather than on a popularity contest is treated with the same contempt as that some services and industries are too important and fundamental to life for private profit motives to be allowed to dictate their provision, and are correctly and properly nationalised.
And of course it’s abused, typically by it’s shoutiest proponents. The people who are loudest about the Free Market are the same who are the loudest about Free Elections of all the positions, but in both cases, their definition of “Free” is evidently “only after we have rigged the game so that those people don’t get to participate, you know who I’m talking about”.
