The point of democracy is to guarantee the people are heard. But there is one question that democrats (lowercase-d) consistently fail to answer:

How does democracy, in any way, guarantee freedom or human rights?

You may then say, “Because the people would never vote against their own self-interest.”

Really, now? Didn’t you see how the people responded to Covid? Two weeks to flatten the curve, which turned into well over a year, wear a mask, get jabbed three times, keep getting jabbed after that… There was no shortage of people who enthusiastically went along with that, who even harassed people who refused to.

The people will sacrifice freedom for safety. The people will sacrifice their rights for a bit more money. And even if the people won’t vote against their own interests, they will still, far more likely, vote against your interests.

In theory, democracy means that ultimate power is wielded by the people.

But there lies the problem with democracy, even just in theory: Ultimate power is given to a mob of millions.

It assumes all the people agree. No, they don’t; they never have and never will.

It assumes it gives voice to the minority. It quite literally does the opposite; democracy is the rule of the majority. A mob.

It’s difficult enough to get any 2 people to agree on everything, but with democracy, you upscale that by a factor of millions. When everyone in the mob is guaranteed a voice, you will inevitably have millions of people who feel unheard, and in some ways, millions of people are always unheard.

If you’re among the unheard, that’s too bad, because they will still claim, “The people have spoken.”

Gang rape is the will of the majority. Thugs robbing a 7-Eleven is the will of the majority.

Being outnumbered doesn’t make you wrong. Being part of the majority doesn’t make you right. There is nothing innately righteous about mob rule, which is all democracy is.

Here’s the most crucial part. Yes, the people can, and will, vote away rights. Yes, the people will vote to have their own freedoms taken away. Yes, they will vote to have your freedoms and property taken away. People will sacrifice anything to feel safer. More importantly, the people will sacrifice anything to make sure that they, on an individual basis, will be okay, even if it’s at the cost of countless others. People are selfish, and people will always put their own well-being above the well-being of others. If you think you never vote for your own self-interest, firstly, you’re a liar, and secondly, even if you weren’t lying, you are still only yourself, and there are millions of people who are not you.

In a true democracy, there’s nothing stopping the people from voting for whatever they want. The people wield ultimate power, after all. So if you’re among a certain group that is only 1% of the population, you’d better hope another 50% of the population values your life and property, because the majority can vote for your demise.

If most people hate you, for any reason (your race, your religion, your sex, your wealth, your political views), in a democracy there is nothing stopping the people from voting your rights away for the benefit of their selves.

Keep in mind, this is best case scenario for true democracy. Most likely by now, you accept that true democracy is not, in fact, a force for good. But I’m sure you’re still not ready to give up on democracy…

You’re probably still thinking we need democracy, but we need some way to fix it of its innate flaws. Some way to keep its strengths (whatever those are) and none of its weaknesses. You need to reduce the mob aspect of democracy, so you bring representatives into the mix. This is called a republic. Most nations today are republics, and that even includes the former Soviet Union (the USSR – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and North Korea. We have many examples of republics that were under the thumb of a dictator. So, that right there proves that republicanism doesn’t guarantee any good things, either. And no, that’s not the fault of those nations, it’s a flaw in republicanism itself.

Having “representatives” is a nonsense term on its own. Why? Because a “representative” is just a member of an oligarchy, the club of the powerful, and you are never guaranteed that he will do anything he promised to do upon election. He may have some incentive to do what he was elected to do, perhaps for the sake of being re-elected, but there is no guarantee of it, and there is no consequence for him breaking his campaign promises.

“Representative” is also a nonsense term because honestly, what does that even mean? Parents barely ever “represent” the wishes of all their children. Humans have never known each other for agreeing on everything. So, what even is a representative? I’m from the west coast, which is a one-party region that consistently votes blue in every election, yet I’m an arch-right-wing monarchist. I don’t even know who “represents” me in DC, but I can promise you, he or she doesn’t, in fact, represent me.

“Representative” is a lie. Republicanism is just shadow oligarchy. It’s an even bigger lie than democracy. At least with democracy, which is the rule of the mob, they can enforce their wishes through sheer numbers, but with republicanism, it’s basically the adult equivalent of writing letters to Santa Claus.

The only true representative of a group is its leader. Human nature doesn’t allow groups to represent even larger groups; that’s a fantasy.

I could talk all day about all the miserable attempts people have made to mitigate the flaws of democracy, from the electoral college (the US), to having elections every two years (Switzerland), but the harsh truth, ultimately, is that democracy is a false god at its core essence.

“The people” cannot rule themselves, and it is high time the Western world accepted this fact. Since 1789, and particularly during the 20th century, humans have killed each other more than any other era in human history, and it was all in the name of trying to be equal. For 235 years, we have pretended the people are equal to their rulers, that the poor are the equals of the rich, etc. Democracy is the religion of the West, and it is the greatest lie in all of human history.