Democracy: A Cruel Sport (#252; Topic P)

One of my wife's nieces, an attorney, after working in an administrative capacity in the Dallas court system for some 10 years, was appointed last year to be a judge, to fill the remainder of a vacancy. Judgeships in Dallas (and, in MD as well [#240]) are elective offices. Thus, this year, to retain her judgeship, she had to campaign. I frankly do not see why judgeship positions and such are elective posts, but that is beside the point. Campaigning means spending time away from legal matters; campaigning also means recruiting volunteers to help out. Clearly, her parents are automatically involved -- hosting get-togethers in various communities for voters to meet their daughter. (We had attended similar functions, in our retirement community here, hosted by parents of candidates running for various positions; we could appreciate the time and effort needed in mounting them, while our only outlay was time -- to be there to enjoy the delicious homemade cheesecakes and such.) I do not know how many other volunteers my wife's niece had, but I do know that her siblings and their spouses all pitched in -- a younger brother, a Harvard MBA running a mutual fund, probably handled finance; another younger brother, an architect, probably helped out with office work; his wife, though expecting, nevertheless handed out flyers from door to door while rolling a baby stroller; her younger sister, a successful pediatrician practicing in Los Angeles, flew in to provide both financial and logistical support. My wife and I are too old to be of any help; we merely wrote a modest check as an expression of our moral support. All in all, donations exceeded $100,000 -- likely to be a substantial portion of a judge's annual salary. Yesterday morning, my wife called her brother to find out how her niece fared; bad news. Later yesterday, she received an e-mail from her sister-in-law, delivering even worse news. It seems that there were 42 judges running on the Republican ticket in Dallas -- and all 42 lost. According to my wife's sister-in-law, this complete wipeout never happened before. Is this rational? Difficult to say. But, I might cite a personal experience. In Maryland, not only judges, but Register of Wills is an elective office. The day before election, at our local library, I saw a flyer bearing his name; it seems that he was severely handicapped. This piece of information, along with a statement that he had been in this capacity for 20+ years, was enough for me to cast a vote for him. Is this rational? Certainly it was not based on a careful study of this candidate's performance. But, again, I have a strong reservation why some positions, administrative in content, must be subjected to vote confirmation, thereby wasting a lot of financial and human resources. My own conclusion: democracy (which, in US, means casting a vote every other year) is a cruel sport.