Does it allow for 51% of a country population to dictate the way of life and define what happiness means to the other 49%?
Does it allow for street mob to dictate government policies and change laws?
What Pericles said over two millennia ago:
“If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences…if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes…
We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality … advancement in public life falls to reputations for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit … our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters … at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger.”