By Sonali Kolhatkar,Independent Media Institute Americans invested in the idea of living in a democracy heaved a collective sigh of relief the day after the 2022 midterm elections when it became clear that the dire of a Republican sweep were overblown. Democrats made greater gains than expected, winning races in both the and the that they didn’t expect to. It happened because masses of people cast ballots, defying long-standing historical trends of low midterm turnout. Voters the high turnout of the when outrage over Donald Trump’s first two years in office pushed Congress into the hands of De…