Hans Hermann-Hoppe on the selection bias of elections

[S]election of government rulers by means of popular elections makes it practically impossible that any good or harmless person could ever rise to the top.  Prime ministers and presidents are selected for their proven efficiency as morally uninhibited demagogues.  Thus, democracy virtually assures that only bad and dangerous men will ever rise to the top of government; indeed, as the result of free political competition and selection, those who rise will become increasingly bad and dangerous individuals, yet as temporary and interchangeable caretakers they will only rarely be assassinated.

~ Hans Hermann-Hoppe, Democracy: The God That Failed, p. 88

2001