[onethought]

But effective democracy limits financing, which solves the buying votes problem.

Investment in education solves a lot of the manipulation problem.

You are Using one of the most dysfunctional democracies as your standard and then pointing out how bad that standard is. The US is a pathetic excuse for a democracy. It’s got some really great ideas that are stifled intentionally.

But you haven’t provided an alternative...

And back to the original point... you would like a monarch to rule The Bay Area?

Please don’t stop at Plato, Aristotle expanded on it and specifically made some key observations around democracy relating to “the wisdom of the masses”.