I suppose the democratic ideal is that majority rule works best if the majority don't comprise a mob, but a group of rationally enlightened, autonomous individuals, as in the mold of the Renaissance man. For that, you'd need a better public school system and a more self-consciously secular society, as in parts of Europe.

The US is more about the frontier, pioneer mentality, the can-do, selfish optimism of the little guy that's turned sour and gone resentful and conspiratorial. The populists now are more about trolling the elites than fixing their structural problems because they have no clue what to do about them except make them worse.