One of the things not mentioned in this thoughtful article is the fact that most people are unintelligent and ignorant. Consequently their ability to understand the world around them is nearly zero, and consequently their voting behavior is merely a function of whomsoever provides the simplest lies and most infantile promises. Like children, ordinary people want free ice-cream forever and are incapable of understanding why in the real world this is neither possible nor desirable. Thus, representative democracy amplifies our inherent mental incapacity and ensures the worst-possible outcomes. Whereas the "smart money" was on Remain and Clinton, I predicted Brexit and Trump long before anyone considered these outcomes even remotely possible - simply because I saw that both campaigns used the same techniques: simplistic lies, infantile promises. It was evident that, given only 14% of people have an IQ above 115 (which is basic velcro-fastening level), such appeals would be the deciding factor. This is also why Modi and Bolsonaro and Babis and PiS and AfD et al have had unprecedented success in the last few years. People, en mass, are simply incapable of performing the mental tasks necessary to make representative democracy anything other than, pace Plato, a one-way street to eventual tyranny.