Democracy is from the Grass Roots

Democracy is from the Grass Roots
Probably the best and worst joke of Christmas 2012 is the Roman Catholic archbishop, accusing the government of not being democratic in the marriage dispute.
The accusation itself is no doubt correct.
A democracy must be so, as much as possible, from the grass roots. That may not mean direct election of everyone and everything, but at least a broad representative democracy. Populist anarchism has to be avoided, in which every random opinion is represented, with no mutual accord.
The Roman Church has Popes who appoints cardinals, who elect the Popes, who is in office for life into senile old age, and is given authority to say what in society is good and evil, with no essential grass roots discussion and weighing of the subject.
If a country were almost totally obedient Roman Catholic, with its leader proclaiming what should and should not be done, in matters of fundamental importance, that country could not be a democracy. Except that if it is in a world with effective democracies, it may be influenced by international criticism.
A tyranny that everyone accepts, is a mental or physical slavery that everyone accepts.
In any case, where a state has a population with one fixed ideology, it is likely to be deficient in that critical curiosity required for democracy.