Professionalized Power
We abolished kings but professionalized their functions. We dismantled aristocracies yet constructed electoral dynasties. The vocabulary modernized. The permanence remained.
Democracy was never meant to be a career path. It was meant to prevent power from hardening. But when office becomes profession, incentives shift. Visibility replaces judgment. Survival replaces stewardship. Politics becomes optimization for re-election rather than responsibility for the century.
The problem is not representation.
The problem is its professionalization.