On democracy.

This is a fairly small thing, but it's one of the indicators that democracy is not simply about citizens thoughtfully choosing the objectively best among two or more alternatives.

Michigan has no free-standing Department of Motor Vehicles. It's under the Michigan Secretary of State's office, so you have to go to the Secretary of State's webpage, where you are greeted with a very clear proclamation of who the SOS is, and a very high-quality professional photo making the SOS look as attractive as possible. This would be the same if the SOS were male and/or Republican.

This serves to both enhance name recognition - in itself very valuable for electoral purposes - and stimulate positive associations with the name. It's one of the ways in which already holding the office itself creates an electoral advantage wholly unconnected with actual performance.

It's not illegitimate. It's within the rules, and only a fool would not take advantage of it. But it violates the ideal conditions of democracy, and is one reason why we should not idealize democracy.