Problem 1. As I said before, its "holiness" is often used to limit debate. As in the example of the Democrat claim that Al Gore should be president because he won the popular vote.
2. Like "Civilization", "Democracy" has two sides, a dark and a bright. When people say "Civilization" they think of great art, music, literature, science - which are indeed products of "Civilization". They think also of public safety, health protection, protection against the vagaries of fate, which are perhaps somewhat more illusory aspects of civilization. Om the dark side of civilization is: war and syphillus, as Edward Abbey would say, contagious disease in general, and, above all, TAXES. - The fundamental character of civilization, the forced division of society into a productive class that labors (redundancy intentional) and a nonproductive class that lives off of that labor.
I won't hold forth similarly on the dark side of democracy but simply say: from the point of view of the governing class, democracy is the cheapest means of oppression.
The Soviet Union, of course, called themselves a democracy. But they didn't properly understand the notion. They thought they had to maintain the enormous KGB apparatus and the gulag system to keep the people in fear. Their clumsy efforts made it evident to their people that they weren't free. But if you can instead delude people into believing that they may choose their jailors (as de Toqueville said, although you would not want them to think of their jailors as jailors), then they can be controlled much more cheaply. They will be much more productive into the bargain under a system where they have the illusion of free enterprize.