For all the angst over “saving democracy” this election season, it looks to me like rule by the masses is alive and well. If it weren’t, would anyone sane feel obliged to take notice of a pop star’s views on conflict in the Middle East? Missouri’s darling, Chappell Roan, told the Guardian last month that she won’t endorse Kamala Harris because the vice president, despite her reckless insistence on a ceasefire in Gaza, is too friendly toward Israel for Roan’s taste. The fallout from this momentous statement has been a subject of media controversy for weeks.

I can think of no other explanation for this than that we really are living in the kind of society Plato warned us about in the Ion, where Socrates interviews a matinee idol who sings Homeric poetry for a living and discovers that he genuinely has no thoughts in his head, just feels. Only in a democracy could such people, who combine maximal charisma with minimal information, be a going concern politically. But their fans may vote, so here we are. Clearly, we already have popular sovereignty at home.