Why democracy fails

The same reason the mainstream doesn’t appeal to hipsters. Government is not a one-size fits all. Each of our individual preferences are mismatched with policies and leaders that are designed for the masses. The best elected representative would be the one that caters to our individual needs only, which is impossible for any electorate with a population larger than one. And the problem gets worse as the nation gets larger and the government gets more bureaucratic and bogged down, which inevitably happens as a nation matures, as history has shown time and time again. Any honest conversation about a successful government boils down to a social contract: what are you willing to sacrifice in terms of your personal preferences in exchange for the benefits of belonging to a large and powerful nation?