The world's only unrestrained democracy, 5th century Athens, defeated the Persians, gained and lost and then regained an empire, was defeated by but eventually outlasted Spartan fascism, and then went on to become part of giving the Hellenistic Age and Western Man a cultural and political legacy that survives to this day. The Mob may be fickle, and it is certainly not infallible, but the Oligarchy will always be infinitely corruptible. It is by its very nature diseased and unwholesome, and it inevitably carries war, tyranny and chaos in its blood, like syphillis.

Trust in the people. They may not know what it is they want, but they are perfectly capable of recognizing when they are being abused, and they will not long tolerate it.