Elite opinion in each of our major political parties frequently shares a disdain for voters dumb enough to support each party’s opponents. It’s indisputable that a large number of low-information voters cast ballots in every election, but that doesn’t mean they are easily fooled. Whenever hundreds of people guess the number of jelly beans in a jar at a school fair, the average of their estimates usually comes in at plus or minus 1% of the actual count. My political experience has taught me the strength of democracy relies on this intrinsic wisdom of crowds.

All of which raises the question of what message Democratic voters across the nation were sending party leadership with their unexpected embrace of Joe Biden on Super Tuesday. The vice president’s sweep of 10 of 14 contests will be regarded, in retrospect, as one of the greatest election surprises in American political history. It appears this surprising decision will be reinforced in upcoming primaries. Democrats didn’t suddenly fall in love with a candidate who has been a known quantity for nearly half a century.

So, what happened? It isn’t merely that Democrats loathe our current president and would like to escort him into an early and mercifully silent retirement. That’s a given. Electability was essential, but so were the skills to supervise the colossal cleanup job ahead of us. We will have to repair the furniture of government – sweeping up all the broken crockery in Washington and spackling the holes punched in the walls of civility. The next president will have to call back thousands of diplomats, scientists, medical specialists and policy experts chased out of their jobs by an ignorant and arrogant wrecking crew.

Past Democratic administrations have been slow to fill federal appointments. Both Clinton and Obama were still recruiting candidates two years after their election victories. Incoming Republican administrations have always been quick to kick Democrats to the curb. They would rather let positions stand vacant than allow a Democratic holdover to remain at his or her desk. Biden seems far better prepared to execute this restoration. Super Tuesday voters concluded that “Our Revolution” can and should wait until all of this has been accomplished. Democrats don’t necessarily disagree with Bernie Sanders’ policy priorities. In fact, many of them will begin to be addressed by a President Biden.

For now, Democrats have signaled they prefer to see this janitorial work commence promptly since it may require years to complete. In addition to domestic repairs, we also need to re-establish the respect of our allies. We must re-commit ourselves to the democratic principles on which our government was founded. Truth be told, voters’ emotional IQ is a lot higher than they receive credit for. No one remains uncertain about Donald Trump’s competence following three years of constant chaos. Democrats are not interested in four more years of grievance displays and Bernie does himself no favors by bellyaching that Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar were bullied into supporting Joe Biden. There is zero appetite for the politics of insult.

In 2001 Colorado voters disappointed me by rejecting a request to build a MAGLEV monorail test facility with $50 million out of a nearly billion-dollar TABOR surplus that year. Early polling showed a majority of voters might be ready to approve such a demonstration. Although the proposal passed in all the counties straddling the I-70 mountain corridor, the project went down to a crushing statewide defeat. The margin of rejection proved inversely proportional to the distance voters were separated from the mountain corridor.

Then, on Sept. 11 hijacked airliners were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, as well as the Pentagon and an empty farm field in Pennsylvania. It would be weeks before Americans understood who was responsible, what had been their motives, and air travel changed forever. After the monorail defeat, we scheduled focus group discussions with voters to determine why they had squelched our request. Voters were quick to acknowledge Colorado should construct an advanced guideway system that would relieve congestion and ease access to recreational areas, but they were understandably hesitant to approve proceeding in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Transportation systems appeared particularly vulnerable to terrorism and Colorado voters opted for caution. That was probably the right call. We all expected there would be another, better opportunity to advance this solution. Alas, 20 years have elapsed and, although we no longer need a test facility with more than a dozen MAGLEV systems in operation worldwide, Colorado budget surpluses have vanished beneath the TABOR ratchet despite a booming state economy. There is little sense bemoaning chances past, however. Once political frustration with spoiled trips and ruined weekends grows intense enough, there will be another election.

Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and a former legislator. He can be reached at mnhwriter@msn.com.