Reader Mike Cooper alerted me to a Guardian article by George Monbiot called Lies, fearmongering and fables: that’s our democracy. It's a good one.

What if democracy doesn’t work? What if it never has and never will? What if government of the people, by the people, for the people is a fairytale? What if it functions as a justifying myth for liars and charlatans?

There's no "what if" about it. Democracy doesn't work. It never has and it never will. And so on.

Well, to be precise, humans can't possibly live up to these expectations. The "folk theory of democracy" is another Adventure In Flatland.