Democracy, ochlocracy, plutocracy
The trouble with an ill-informed democracy is that it easily becomes an ochlocracy -- that is, rule by the ignorant mob. As long as the USA included slavery, it was only a democracy for the non-slave class. But speaking of ignorance, how many times have you read that plutonium is the deadliest element in the world? Radium is about 24000/1600, = fifteen times as radioactive, because that's the ratio of the half lives. But radon's half life is 3.8 days, so it takes about 153 grams of radium to match the radioactivity of one milligram of radon.
Anyway, the other trouble is the power of the plutocracy. The chief media of information are sorely beholden to the advertisers who fund them, or in the case of PBS, the large organizations that by their funding "make this program possible". For those who don't know, plutocracy is government by money. Indeed, the holders of financial power, in the USA and elsewhere, tend to limit our freedoms and take our money at least as much as the elected government and those whom that government appoints.
