The real weakness of democratic societies is that the general understanding of the world don't transfer into politics. Mercantilism as a zero sum game where y

The real weakness of democratic societies is that the general understanding of the world don't transfer into politics. Mercantilism as a zero sum game where you export more than you import and then you get rich reasonable first theory if you start to think trade from the scratch, but it's wrong. It was already debunked by Adam Smith in "The Wealth of Nations" 1776. Then came Ricard's comparative advantage (1817), the emergence of Classical Theory Of International Trade, then New Trade theory then New New trade theory. Every area of politics that touches issues like medicine, chemistry, genetics, climate science, macro economics, trade economics, urban economics, etc. is always facing arguments that were outdated hundreds or thousands of years ago.