Daniel Altman had a smart piece over at Foreign Policy a few weeks ago that pointed to short-term thinking as the greatest threat to our global economy. It seems that this kind of short sightedness is not unique to economics.

With the election almost upon us, the corresponding quadrennial tide of complaints about the electoral college has begun: Richard Cohen, John Koza and Eric Black to name a few. Yet of course, the urgency with which these pieces examine the flaws of our electoral system always comes when the moment is nearly upon us, when a potential issue may be in the works but is too late to be stopped. And given that once the election ends our brains are wiped of the perpetual campaign, issues like the effectiveness of the electoral college—ones with long deadlines and little long-term pressure—will continue to go unaddressed.