hmm... I will take the bait... :-) ( I am such a sucker!) Democracy is the only chance that I have to exert the force of my ignorance on a plethora of subjects for which there are far too many experts with conflicting views. In order for someone to manipulate me, they must present their brilliance in such a way that I can connect with it, thus they have to dumb it down so far that no matter what they do or say, they will in fact have lied. Subsequently, when I actually see what applying their brilliant idea means to me, I am perfectly justified in voting the arrogant SOB out of office for being dishonest.
Democracy, if nothing else, slows the pace of progress just far enough that those of us less brilliant (or just plain ignorant) don't become completely enslaved by those more brilliant, who would eventually determine that our ignorance make us less than human, and therefor justify making us their property to do with as they see fit. I may be ignorant, but I will not be owned! (at least not on paper) :-) I don't mean to be glib. What I say above is a (hopefully) lighthearted, cynical and very simplified expression of what I really think. Democracy is the only form of government that allows the ignorant to really count, at least a little bit. Democracy is what allows any ignorant individual to become less ignorant if they are willing to work at it a bit... after all, ignorance is correctable.
