Politics & Power Quote by Peter Camejo

A line like this is less a civics lecture than a provocation, designed to puncture the self-congratulatory story Americans tell about exporting democracy while tolerating a rickety version at home. Camejo’s wording is absolute on purpose: “all” and “more democratic” refuse nuance, forcing the listener to defend the U.S. system rather than merely admire it. That’s the rhetorical trap.

The specific intent is comparative shaming. By invoking “Europe” as a bloc, he borrows its reputation for modern governance and social-democratic legitimacy, then turns it into a measuring stick for American electoral design. The subtext isn’t that Europe is perfect; it’s that U.S. institutions are unusually good at translating popular participation into elite gatekeeping. “Electoral laws” signals structure, not vibes: ballot access rules, districting, winner-take-all incentives, and the friction built into registration and voting. He’s pointing at mechanisms that can produce outcomes detached from majority preference, and at how hard it is for new parties to compete.

Context matters: Camejo spent decades in insurgent politics, including third-party runs, where “democracy” is experienced as a maze of legal hurdles, not a national myth. Coming from someone branded a “businessman,” the jab also undercuts the lazy assumption that only ivory-tower radicals question U.S. electoral legitimacy. It’s a populist move, weaponizing comparison to make institutional critique feel like common sense rather than ideology. The sentence works because it turns patriotism inside out: if democracy is the brand, the product should meet the spec.