Unfortunately, representative democracy automatically generates "leaders" concerned to minimize potential loss of votes. The easiest way to do that is... to do nothing except make a few windy speeches occasionally. This is why WWII began. The so-called "great powers" of Britain and France didn't want to disturb voters by opposing Hitler when he sent a mere 6,000 lightly-armed German solders into the Rhineland in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles. This inevitably told Hitler he could do whatever he wanted, which made WWII inevitable. When Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 the West did nothing and this told Putin he could do whatever he wanted. Democracy is a catastrophic system that amplifies ignorance and folly and unfortunately it's destroyed what was left of our civilization. Ukraine is paying the price today, but the rest of the West will soon experience well-deserved horrors too.