>The fundamental problem with democracy is, to not put too fine a point on it, that most people are idiots who really have no business having a say in how a city should be run, let alone a continental scale empire. >Meanwhile modern "democracy" is a propagandic plutarchy that observably prioritizes the interests of the plutocrats so highly above those of the general population that the latter have, effectively, no say whatsoever.

The former is a consequence of the latter. At least in modern times. Also don't forget that our notional foundations for democracy are rooted in a slave-society. I don't know how that's 'fair' unless you disregard the slaves.

And of course most people have no business in running a government: most people have no experience governing! Most people are subjects in mini-dictatorships (employees of employers).