Who guards the guardians?
This I think is the greatest reason for evolving our democratic systems. I don't think getting rid of guardians is the solution, but we do need to stop appealing to systems and paper documents that have far outlived their usefulness. The basic concept is good, but the application is flawed or at least no longer keeping up.
On the Science side of things, marketing has definitely taken over, especially in product based research. I'm not sure how strong the consumer protection is for your country, but this is supposed to be part of the defense, in addition to a scientifically literate population (ha ha... Wishful thinking! ).
I'm not sure all the protections are failed or failing, but they sure could use a bit of shoring up. At the moment, the penalties for corporate wrong doing are a joke.
I really think the place to start is by fixing up the systems that we use to elect our representatives who then decide upon laws and policies. Sortition, for me, if well implemented could go a long way to combating corruption in Western countries.