I have noticed some confusion of late. It seems to center around the belief that democracy and human rights are the same thing. While you can make a good argument that the people have the right to represent themselves, at best, these are overlapping terms

Let me explain myself using an ancient Greek custom as an example. A pastime of the Greeks was to write on clay bits of pottery the names of people that everyone was fed up with, and if the person got enough votes, they were kicked out. It’s where we get the word ostracize, because the bit of pottery the vote was written on was called an ostracon. While this custom may not be very respectful of the human rights of the poor fellow being thrown out, you can’t say it isn’t democratic. Because democracy, completely unrestricted, is mob rule.

When you see bureaucracies or regulatory systems being dismantled that you believe are useful for protecting the safety of those they serve, don’t call it anti-democratic. Unelected officials (bureaucrats) are the most undemocratic thing in the world.

How is it anti-democratic for rules to disappear that the average citizen was never allowed to cast a vote for? If the closest a set of rules comes to a popular vote is for an appointee of an elected representative to approve them, then they aren’t particularly democratic rules.

You can say deregulation is dangerous. You can say the end of certain forms of oversight leaves minorities and the lower class vulnerable. But don’t say it isn’t democratic, even if you happen to call yourself one.