You may have posted this reply, before I put the footer on my post which points to the next parts in a series where I address some of these very things you’re talking about.

If direct democracy is still just a popularity contest, and we pretend everybody should be equal in every discourse, even if they haven’t taken basic steps to understand an issue, then, yes, that would spell disaster too.

These things all have fairly easy solutions, if we’re willing to question our sacred cows about governance.