Another aspect is that in general, liberalist states vote for people and parties, and even most referendums and policies are usually coded to side with one party or the other. In America this usually boils down to: tax goes up -> democrats, tax goes down -> republicans, or it's related to some political hot topic that has already been nationally polarized by the news.
I don't think it's really said enough, but there is a fundamental problem with republic democracy, in that when you're voting for people and not for ideas, the only winning metric is how 'convincing' they are. This inevitably leads to a certain type of person getting an edge, and honesty is usually detrimental to their success. People generally know this, but when 50% is all you need to clear, then that's all you're gonna care about. Policy and ideology get moved further and further away until they're boiled down to talking points that can rile up a base, and now you got yourself another corrupt country.
Democracy definitely works in small groups or settings where good faith debate can take place with a reasonably educated and inclusive group, but outside of that, it has problems. I think people are conditioned even more-so than capitalism to believe that democracy is a golden ideal to achieve, but the shortcomings are pretty blatant when you stop to look at it. Better than authoritarianism, sure, but once personality is thrown into the mixture, that's what you'll end up with anyway.
The Alt-Right Playbook: You Can't Get Snakes from Chicken Eggs