Democracy has one big honking loophole at its very core: misleading voters is much easier than enlightening voters. Can you think of any patch? Even in theory?

Am I wrong to perceive this as a fundamental design flaw?

Democracy is when the majority votes and makes choices. But if its true that is easier to lie to get votes, than it is to teach people so that they can make truly informed choices (and blame for this falls on both sides of the politician-voter relationship)... ... then yeah. The easiest path to power is through lies and manipulation.

Half of my brain is going "Duh, it took you 30 years to figure out the system is broken?" while the other half is going "Holy shit, the system is broken! The single most important system to determine the course of our species has a big fucking hole right through the middle, and we've no idea how to patch it!".

I dunno... am I off base here?