The referendum in Crimea was neither an exercise in democracy, consulting Crimeans on important decisions about their future; nor was it an effective conflict management tool, distributing power between competing interests.
America has always prided itself on being a forward-looking nation. Yet our election system is mired in the past. We can rescue our election system from the horse-and-buggy era and infuse it with the dynamism of our digital age. It's happening now.
Corporations can now directly intervene in campaigns with candidate-specific ads. The only requirement remaining is that they not be coordinated with a campaign. But that's a requirement more of form than substance.