Midterms voter turnout

Last week's midterm electioms in the US which, although they don't include a vote for the Presidency, are pretty much equivalent to a general election here in the UK are reported to have seen an improvement in voter turnout to just over 40 per cent. Well at least it's an improvement, even if the turnout, as is usually the case in the US, is staggering low.

The level of media interest in the midterms this side of the Atlantaic has been unprecedented, and surely reflects the importance of what happens in American politics for the rest of the world. But I haven't seen much comment on the implications of such poor participation in the democratic process in the US, a country which frequently holds itself up as an exmaple of the merits of democracy. It seems to me that the Americans need to put their own democratic house in order before they start telling others how to things should be done.