That all sounds like you're saying: if people are ideally educated/informed/fit, then good government will follow. But that's what communism has been saying for decades, in a way. In fact, any system will work if people are educated/fit.
That's why a system whose success depends on ideal citizens is probably a bad system. And it's also why a good system will always prioritize education, by any means necessary: because that's the thing that will most likely guarantee its continued existence - because even if there are better systems out there, change requires effort, so citizens, like Nature, will prefer to tinker rather than redesign from scratch. So a less-than-perfect system that prioritizes education will tend to remain in force. Radical change happens usually when things get really shitty. (Hence the anarchists who wanted Trump because they think doomsday will ensue while he's in office.)
The difference between then and now:
People are becoming... more wise for lack of a better term.
Transparency is becoming the thing. Basically, if you run campaigns like they used to, you will be slaughtered in the polls. Open, honest, with flaws shown, that will be what gets votes in the future.
Only if something is measured can it be improved. This is an axiom in business. It is will be forced into govern-cement. And thus, a beneficial loop is formed. Instead of the destructive loop we have now.
I expect a generation before we actually see any real signs of change. But it is coming.
I'm a meliorist so 👍