It's not about being 'allowed'. You take it.

Plato agreed with you. He (with influence from his mentor Socrates) conceived the idea of formal democracy, and ultimately found it did not work. His proposed solution was a Philosopher Prince, a sort of benevolent dictator.
I imagine that you're familiar with the government types existent; that's what we have to work with.
Unless some bright malcontent comes up with a novel idea...

Democracy fails in that it is susceptible to duplicity. But as Churchill said (forgive me for quoting that cretin), it's the best we've got.
Democracy fails most in that the electorate are easily bamboozled, and media (TV, Hollywood, government and other directed propaganda, the education system, etc) are the main culprits, and that's where focus needs to be directed. That's why stuff like Steemit works. To a small overall degree, I agree, but it does give us a place to start.

If you see a strong article, upvote it. Write your own.

And you talk to people every day. Know your stuff, and advance a polite but logically reasoned and fact based argument. It doesn't always work, but sometimes it does. I've had people stubbornly disagree with me and walk away, and much later tell me that the encounter had made them rethink some idea they'd previously held. So you do your best in a respectful way; one never knows which seeds might sprout.

Otherwise what are you going to do, drop your pants and roll over when they come to rape you?
Scratch their eyes out!
politely :)