Democracy works not because of the intelligence of individual members of the polity, but through the aggregate wisdom found in the greatest number of data points. Every member of the polity, no matter what their education, experience, or background, is a world-class expert on one thing: themselves. Everyone has perfect data on their own wants and needs, and their satisfaction with current policies. When a polity follow sub-optimal paths, it’s not because democracy is a brittle/ineffective system — it’s because political leaders have failed to present the correct combination of policies to satisfy the disparate, often contradictory needs of the electorate.