The Last Refuge of Scoundrels?

Here is a nice blog entry by Tyler Cowen telling us to lower our expectations about democracy (in the context of the current US presidential primary and its idiocies). I'm a great admirer in democracy, I agree with Tyler -- and with Winston Churchill -- that democracy is a rather "blunt instrument":

... we should not demand from democracy what democracy cannot provide. Democracy is pretty good at pushing scoundrels out of office, or checking them once they are in office. Democracy is also good at making sure enough interest groups are bought off so that social order may continue and that a broad if sometimes inane social consensus can be manufactured and maintained. We should expect all those things of democracy and indeed democracy can, for the most part, deliver them.

But democracy is very bad at fine-tuning the details of economic policy. Democracy is very bad at bringing about political solutions which are not congruent with the other sources of economic and social influence in a country. The solution is not to be less democratic, but rather to appreciate democracy for what it is good for. And the excesses of democracy should be fought with ideas, albeit with the realization that not everyone will be convinced. Those are the breaks, as democracy needs all the friends it can get.

What was that famous Churchill quote on democracy? Here it is:

Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried.

Or maybe Cowen is trying to get at this Churchill quote:

The strongest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter.