Our ability as a nation to decide about ANYTHING ended the moment our elected government decided that would be a disaster if we leave the EU. Maybe they know better; but that's not what people elected them for. 

Everyone needs to jump ship from that sinking top-down morass into the individually autonomous (grass roots, bottom-up) Knowledge Age.

macsga, always democracy is a power vacuum. And thus yes the elite will take control...

The only way I can see to avoid that is to use technological innovation to remove the need for consensus... Soon we will have this technology.