I was surprised to learn as a grown damn man this past week that Democracy, capital letter political system, was designed and architected to be a more stable political system less prone to systemic ripples, rather than a system designed for the people to govern themselves.

"For the people, by the people" is basically a marketing slogan.

Note that I'm not passing judgement on whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, just that it is, and that I didn't realize it until now.