But even as broken as they are, you see the power of the franchise, broadly construed. It all seems such a sham, yet people with an edge in "our democracy" are constantly trying to entrench that temporary edge by disenfrachising people who would make those choices differently than they would. Before you get to cynical about even existing, imperfect "democracy", watch how assiduously cynical actors strive to strategically withdraw it. 15/