Then we have come to terms, you understand the awful truth, but are in denial about the reality of it because it is so awful. That awful truth is that we are directly responsible for democracy, and that if everyone shirks that responsibility and that requirement of sacrifice, there can be no democracy. Someone must sacrifice.
You cannot have democracy or republic without citizens who live the ideal of "live free or die" or an educated aristocracy that can see the bigger picture and are convinced that they must exercise their power with responsibility.
You understand that in the game of prisoners dilemma, if the aristocracy defects and there are no consequences, that choice of defection is a winning strategy. You understandably don't like the answer because you bear responsibility for your half of the strategy, your strategy multiplied over the entire population is the game. It takes an MLK to bear that burden and we have none.
I think you underestimate unionization as a 2nd amendment alternative. Unions are not a legal construct, but a power construct. Companies and the economy at large cannot function without labor, and unions purpose are to use this property to get a seat at the negotiation table.
Do you think if we start shouting "no taxation without representation" it's going to be easier next year than it is this year? Of course not. Power is consolidating and will continue to do so, and the cost of taking it back is only going to go up unless our aristocracy can sort itself out, which is just "hope as a strategy." If you work in tech it should be obvious that hope is not a strategy. I'm sure the average Russian citizen used hope as a strategy, that's certainly the consequence of inaction.
FWIW, you might like the works of yale history professor Timothy Snyder. I think I am more extreme than him, but he is definitely the modern embodiment of the ideals of our founding fathers. He prescribes investing in our institutions as the potential back-pressure on our decay (my choice of word, not his). "On Tyranny" is a great very short book and he also put it on youtube. Very much worth a read/watch.
I think you would enjoy Snyder's talks on the "politics of inevitability" (on youtube) and the idea that democracy is something you do, not something you are. Which means democracy is the sum total of actions, culture, and beliefs of a society, not a structure and not a ritual. He would likely critique my post as one advocating for "mob rule."
Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig also has some pretty choice words on the state of our democracy and has hope that we can alter it's course via education and campaign finance reform, particularly starting at the local level in an effort to eventually promote it federally.