No, the average person was not. However, in a representative-democracy model people voted for someone to become better informed and then act on their behalf. I

No, the average person was not. However, in a representative-democracy model people voted for someone to become better informed and then act on their behalf. I think people were (generally speaking) more aware of their own informational limits, and more prepared to take seriously their choice over those empowered to act on their behalf. Now, of course, everyone has "all the world's knowledge at their fingertips", and drowns in information of dubious relevance and / or provenance. As, increasingly (and ironically) do their representatives. A distressing twist: I am incredibly over-informed about national politics, and almost entirely uninformed about local matters.