It leaves a lot to be desired, that much I know. Giving power to the people? Why stop there? What's wrong with supplying toddlers with nail guns and hacksaws? (Psst, Americans. The problem is that the toddlers are too stupid to know how to handle them.)
Maybe it's the insomnia talking (I'm tired, because I'm up past my bedtime. I defy you, biological functions), but I contend that people are generally idiots, and power in the hands of idiots is a very dangerous thing.
For example, I just crawled out from under my rock today and learned that we had some elections about half a year ago. Forget Florida; Missouri elected a freaking dead guy! He died in a car crash some weeks before the election, and his wife said she would serve for him if he were elected, so the...people...felt sorry for them or something and she got in! Holy crap! Missourians should not be allowed to breed.
Yeah, okay, so I was faintly aware of some talk about some dead guy in some election, but until today, I had no idea that it was actually true and that his wife is actually serving his office for him. Ashcroft was apparently not smart enough to exploit his opponent's quietus ("Vote Ashcroft, He's Not Dead").
Then there's also the whole Hillary Clinton thing. Never elected to any prior office, arrogant and paranoid, born in the Midwest, married someone from Arkansas; of course she'd be a shoe-in for the New York Senate....
The problem is that these people were actually elected. I don't think people really know what they want. They whine about whatever the media tells them to whine about. They want to save the environment, but they bitch about gasoline prices being high. At least America got something right and put in a Republican with an MBA in Business, who knows that supply and demand will eventually handle the problem (higher prices=less frivolity). Actually, I'm not quite sure if that's what "supply and demand" is, but it's the only economic type term I can recall right now while watching Late Night TV, and there's no way in hell I'm going to tax myself to do research or revise this tomorrow.
Dictatorships are the answer. Good, smart dictators. We can keep shooting the bad dictators until we get to one we like.