I agree with you, because that's how the legislative system works. Lobbying, pass-this-or-we-all-die-scaremongering to whip the votes, and more all fall under the rules of the legislative process. Like I said before, you and I share an unhealthy skepticism of that legislative process. But for some reason I keep having to circle around this point: the legislative process is well defined and enshrined and advertised in law (constitutional or otherwise) whereas the ethereum process is clearly not as evidenced by a 5% turnout and an immediate distrust in the process by constituents. Representatives aren't blindsided about a new kind of vote the President made up that is default "yea" that results in a 5% voter turnout.
This is the last time I'll attempt to make this point.
Ethereum is fully open-source (that is my understanding anyway; I have never used it), so all the code is known. Further, anyone may participate, or not; contribute code, or not; promote and run their own protocols, or not.
Congressional elections are typically decided by ~25% of citizens. Not very far from the 5% rate you are claiming. Sampled approval rates have been as low as 11%. The most recent rate I've found is 16%.
Your point is about minimal discrepancies and misses (for me) the much, much larger picture.
This is the last time I'll attempt to make this point.