Also, our basic ideology of democracy says that ordinary people can make wise decisions about policy without expert knowledge.
Modern representative democracy says that ordinary people can make wise decisions about who among the viable options (whose cardinality is much more likely to exceed two if you don’t live in the U.S.) will be best at representing their interests. This is mildly more defensible than saying that ordinary people can make wise decisions about policy without expert knowledge—however, I state this not to defend democracy but only because getting the problem right is important.
Modern representative democracy says that ordinary people can make wise decisions about who among the viable options (whose cardinality is much more likely to exceed two if you don’t live in the U.S.) will be best at representing their interests. This is mildly more defensible than saying that ordinary people can make wise decisions about policy without expert knowledge—however, I state this not to defend democracy but only because getting the problem right is important.