The old British voting system where students had a double vote and professionals a triple vote and other men a single vote was a compromise...
I think some of you overestimate the influence of a political party upon the bureaucracy.. democracy allows for slow change without stagnation, since candidates have to spend the majority of their time to acheive popularity and can therefore not ravage the administration of a country during their periods.
Controlling the masses can be acheived in many ways, currently "one person = one vote". Democracy is an excellent invention to keep people content, avoiding rebellions and revolutions.
The competition for power is rather fierce, meaning that numbskulls will eventually be forced out, although we can all agree that this is far from ideal.. On the other hand, considering all the flaws in human beings, I think we can be content.
and btw, lol @ bush and gore's SAT results. Ok, maybe the test was scaled differently before, I dunno..