You have read your de Toqueville, I see!
And yes, once the direct product of human work and discipline comes under large-scale democratic control, the nation is in peril.
Discussion
This critique also goes back to Socrates/Platos' story on the vote between the dentist and the sweet shop owner. Bribes with a year of sweets won the crowd over the dentists' rational guidance to fixing core problems.
Voting themselves into the reserves, or new mint, is one of a few ways democracies die.