Formal Democracy, Agency Break, and Rational Apathy Core Thesis:Elections are not democracy. They are periodic authorization rituals.Modern democracy did not collapse overnight. It gradually thinned itself out — while preserving its symbols. Ballots remain. Institutions remain. Legitimacy language remains. But the lived substance of democratic self-government quietly erodes. This is not primarily a moral failure. It is a structural one.I. From Popular Sovereignty to Authorization RitualIn the...