I really don't think that's the case. If you want to mod r/politics, you don't just raise your hand and then get mod powers. Moderators are a closed group.

You can create your own subreddit and be the sole moderator of it in about sixty seconds of effort.

Sure. But that doesn't really have any bearing on whether Reddit can find volunteers to take over big subs.

This sounds distinctly different from one raising their proverbial hand to gain moderator powers on one of the most popular subreddits on the site. How many non-moderator users don't care about moderating a subreddit with 1 user but do care about moderating a subreddit with 1M users?

If someone wouldn't be willing to start and grow their own subreddit, should they really be entrusted with the keys to a big one?

> Counter-argument: 99.996% of Reddit users apparently don't want to be moderators or they already would be, so finding more will be very hard.

That was what you said before.

What is the process for starting a new subreddit?

You click the "Create Your own Subreddit" button and fill out a few fields.