Sore loser restrictions are pure common sense. I would have thought more states already had them.
It's so strange how some people believe that democracy is the absolute best, yet when it serves their interests, have no problem with completely ditching democratic processes to achieve their ends.
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We want gay marriage!
Well almost 40 states voted to ban it
Too bad, 5/9 people decided it was constitutional! #LoveWins!
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We don't want Trump!
Well he's the leading candidate in the polls
Too bad, kick him off the ballot! #JebWins!
I agree. We cling to the idea that everything and anything possible must be subjected to popular approval as a doctrine, regardless as to whether it is truly the most practical or suitable method for selection, because we've come to see liberal democracy as some kind of intrinsic good as opposed to a method of governance that (supposedly) allows for the highest degree of accountability.
Accountability is often held in contrast to administrative effectiveness/policy implementation, and this is mostly true, but you get a problem when you have a state of affairs where the kind of accountability imposed is poor or low grade. Just as you can have an effective regime implementing bad policy, you can have a system characterised by a high level of accountablity
where those to whom the government is accountable are not invested in actually monitoring the government sufficiently or take bad/uninformed policy positions and thus drive a government in a suboptimal direction.
The problem is that the general public are often not the primary stakeholders, whether that be in determining policy aims or in a party's political success. A better system must provide for accountability, yes, but it must sure that those to whom decision makers and policy makers are responsibly are true stakeholders invested in and able to make informed decisions as to the direction of policy.
In short, not everything is suited to be decided via popular vote. We all knew that. But at times like these it's worth reminding people of this.
