England, whose King paid a visit to remind the Congressional majority about the shared power system, is doing America an uncomfortable favor this week. Between the response to the Epstein connections and the battering Keir Starmer is taking from his own public, Britain is illuminating two weaknesses in the American system at once: those in power protect their own, and the mechanism designed to punish them for it — elections — has been quietly dismantled.

Start with the protection racket. When names surface in the Epstein files, the British response has been swift, public, and harsh. The American response, from the people in power who could pursue it, has been silence — or something worse than silence: the performance of moving on.

Then look at what's happening to Starmer. A prime minister who disappoints can be made to feel it.(*) Voters in a parliamentary system have transmission lines that carry public displeasure directly to the people responsible. In America, gerrymandering has walled off all but roughly 18 of 435 House districts from any genuine competition (According to the Cook Political Report). The people who live in the other 417 can be unhappy about wars, about a domestic economic plan powered by import taxes, about whatever they like — their representatives will not feel it. The signal doesn't reach the receiver. The wire's been cut.

*Recognizing this does not require endorsing the forces of nationalism and populism that are challenging Starmer. Or, put another way, don’t mistake an observation of a thing for an endorsement of the worst possible outcome of that thing. (This is a little bit of a shoot the messenger bias). It’s possible also to imagine alternative outcomes where the pressure on Starmer causes a leadership change that leads to better policies that address constituent issues without embracing nationalist bile.