Michigan Capitol Confidential: Harvard Study Says Michigan Elections Less Democratic Than Cuba, North Korea, Iran
By Derek Draplin
Bradley Smith, a law professor at Capital University and an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the study is “absurd” and not based on objective criteria.
“Isn’t a study that ranks Cuba, North Korean and Iran higher on a democracy list than half of the United States – from conservative Georgia to liberal New York, from tiny Rhode Island to giant Texas, self-evidently absurd?” said Smith, a former chairman of the FEC who now specializes in election law and campaign finance. “That should be enough to dismiss this silly study.”…
“The criteria is subjective, and often ideological highly contested – for example, U.S. scores were lowered in the latest survey because of recent deregulation of the campaign finance in the United States – even though those who have argued for such deregulation believe it is a huge plus for democracy,” Smith continued…
“This ‘study’ is not only not worth the paper it is printed on, it should irritate honest election specialists because it is the type of bogus study that makes people skeptical of ‘experts’ who purport to know what is best for them,” he said.
