An observation. I have those.
President Trump rose with a platform, if you could call it that, of “draining the swamp.” I’ve taken this swamp term to refer to the less-than-for-the-good-of-the-whole-country negotiations that go on in government; “vote to keep my military base and I’ll vote for your ethanol subsidy.” It strikes me that, when we do this, when we protest the swamp, by that definition, we are protesting democracy.
Think about it. Representatives are local, for the most part. As local representatives, their job is to do what they can to benefit their constituents. That is the deal. If that involves voting for something you would otherwise oppose to get a vote for something to benefit your constituency, you do it, and your constituents would want you to do so. For it to be otherwise would require a dictatorship, or at least a single branch of government that decides everything at the country level. That is impractical, and likely unsustainable.
Thus;
To be sure, swamp haters are also anti-corruption, against payoffs and the like. Real Swiss bank account style corruption in the USA is, however, not a known problem, not the issue it is in some less advanced economies. Campaign contributions may be only one step removed from payoffs, but removed they are. Thus, as a great example of something to put under the heading of “Careful What You Wish For,” by protesting the swamp, voters seem to be largely protesting democracy, albeit not consciously so.