I think (the reason to what are you describing, and that I agree with) it's more to do with how in any democracy needs constant work from the people (not once evey few years a popularity contest) & how it's always, at all times naturally threatened by individuals seeking power. If you one too many times don't act in time you get an autocratic gov (that it might take a lot more than voting to defeat).

Basically oblivious demos vs the rich class radicalising political/pubic systems (deregulation etc) so serve their short-term financial gain.

I recently watched this NOVA bit about power struggles in Athens (something I knew about prob 30 years ago):
dailymotion.com/xa7xuec