Minority rights. Protection of the rights of all citizens of the state, not just of the majority.

That’s a big part of democracy! It’s one of the most important things along with citizens to actively participate in elections (with some exceptions such as fraud or corruption), all citizens being treated equally (unfortunately not always the case) and free and fair elections.
At some point it’s surprising to me that “rule of the people” came from Greek meaning since Athens wouldn’t come to me as a democratic place at that time. I would call it “rule of the certain people” as you pointed out. Obviously Athenians felt threatened by Sparta’s “rule of the people”. Which was at that time closest to democracy. So it all actually started in England in the 17th Century when “The Bill of Rights” was passed. At the end it was nice walk through US and European democracy. The way it all played out, from disagreements, governments ignoring The Bill of Rights, slavery, civil wars, different amendments, world wars to collapse of dictatorships. In some countries it’s still the old way, the dictatorship way. At the end, it’s only matter of time when this become a history.
Great article @bigtom13!