You seem to be using voter participation as the measure of the health of democracy. If you look at the rates of voter participation over the last 100 years or s

You seem to be using voter participation as the measure of the health of democracy. If you look at the rates of voter participation over the last 100 years or so there is no sign that democracy has diminished over that time. The rate has fluctuated quite a bit and recent participation rates although not the highest are far from the lowest over that time period. And rates don't seem to be on a consistent downward trend that will bring them near the lows. If you want to know how prohibition happend just look at the low point for voter participation. http://www.fairvote.org/voter_turnout#voter_turnout_101 http://www.fairvote.org/voter_turnout#voter_turnout_101