from the new york times, this report of how costly democracy can be is very enlightening. it is clear that building a successful democratic government isn't as simple as holding elections. (after all, we're still fumbliing about trying to get it right after a couple of hundred years. i don't think legislation for sale to the highest corporate bidder can be described as an ideal. it's also a shame to not see the benefits of federalism talked about as highly as those of democracy. democracy doesn't scale terribly well.)