Are the Elections Decided by Chance?

That's a question being considered by Real Clear Politics: what if elections are governed mostly by chance? My question is whether this is a comforting or a discomforting thought. I may not be the resident pessimist here, but I'm no Pollyanna, either. I also don't take much cheer from reports that the Latino vote won't be swinging Texas in the next twenty years. It will be a sad day when Texas goes blue, and unless some other big states (California, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and/or Florida) become reliably red it will be the final death knoll of the Republican Party. A lot can happen in twenty four years, but most of the signs of the times point to more decadence and slouching towards a new Sodom, or a new Babylon, or even a new old Rome, becoming a civilization (and a culture) in decline; and this is not merely a political (or even a political-economic) observation. Our resident pessimist is a hopeful man, and I try to share that hope, but hope is not for things in this world.