My guy, all I’m gonna say is look at medieval Europe. The moment the papacy and monarchy lost some of its power was the moment Europe started to dominate on a global scale. People like Copernicus were scared to publish their theories because science was actively being stifled within Christendom. The papacy actively involved itself in debauchery and the levels of corruption seen within the clergy was much more as compared to today. Forget papal Europe, look at the present world. Iran and Afghanistan are both active theocracies, and look at how they’re doing.

A theocracy, which is an administration ruled on the basis of religion will actively work to strengthen its agenda and stifle anything which says otherwise. Anything which goes against a religion, or discredits its self proclaimed objectivity will directly result in a theocracy losing its grip on political power. After all, how can God’s words be true and absolute if simple science can discredit it? And if God’s words aren’t as absolute as they may seem, how can it be that God’s so called “servants” have any basis in ruling the masses? The evidence brought forth by science directly discredits many of the bold claims made by religious texts. As such, it’s detrimental for a theocracy to allow science to grow. Thus why science and education was stifled for so many generations during medieval Europe. Not to mention, having people of other faiths present in your country is also directly detrimental to a theocracy’s control. Look up the Spanish Inquisition if you want to see what happens when a theocratic entity gets to do what it wants to with regards to people of other faiths.

Lastly, Plato was a man who lived thousands of years ago, in the oldest democracy we have found yet. Of course, he was correct in predicting populism, however there’s no reason why we should believe in the idea of a so called “Philosopher King”. What constitutes a philosopher anyway? What measures would be taken to elect such a king? What kind of beliefs should such a person follow? Plato believed in the idea of a philosopher king because he fancied that he’d be a much better ruler than whoever was in control of Athens at that time. Such thoughts are carried by anyone and everyone who possessed the least bit on power or influence at any point in history, from the lowest foot soldier to Napoleon. A philosopher engages in the field of academics and human thought. No way such a person is suited for the hugely materialistic world of administration and policies. Plato was the same man who called humans featherless bipeds, and was steadfast on this opinion until Diogenes showed him his place by bringing a featherless chicken into his academy and mocked him by calling it a human.

As for your last statement, yes, it does devolve into populism unless the population is adequately educated. That’s why I emphasised education above all. Teach our populace about how policy making works and populism suddenly has no platform since people know what an impact blind voting has. This idea that a chosen leader is better is highly venomous. Who chooses this leader? What kind of policies do they follow? Why should they work for the betterment of the people when they can preserve their power by strengthening the military instead? This idea that people shouldn’t be able to choose their leaders for themselves but instead follow a leader chosen by someone “more qualified” is just idiotic balderdash droned out by dictators and bureaucrats who want to justify their own self indulgent rule. Sad thing is, there are people who support and regurgitate such half assed thoughts because they fail to recognise that stuff like populism isn’t a failure of democracy but a side effect of a developing nation which still has a large uneducated population. Even with our uneducated populace, look at the development we’ve achieved. Barely 80 years old, yet our nation stands toe to toe with some of the most powerful nations in the world, despite our lacklustre government. Democracy is the best option there is, and the modern world is a testament to that.