Im reflecting from the pov of a parents role re: the kids. If you give the kids what they want, its going to be soda and candy every day of their lives. Some deciaions are tough, e.g. delayed gratification, and holding ones ground, but do voters even care about stuff like that?
Can we even hope on common sense, when the population is concerned?
In theory, the will of the people should be the common good/best practices. The reality though is there are a certain portion of any given population with entirely selfish or hateful wishes. Those type of people tend to seek power in whatever fashion they can get and use those positions to amplify their voices trying to convince others to support them.