It is assumed in many parts of the world that democracy is a group of people facing a certain problem, who come together to solve it in a way where everyone has an equal say.

Deficits. Most people of knowledge say it's the biggest single problem facing the economic free world.

[Democracy:] An institution in which the whole is equal to the scum of the parts.

Some actors come to the set ready to do their parts a certain way.

Consensus isn't just about agreement. It's about changing things around: You get a proposal, you work something out, people foresee problems, you do creative synthesis. At the end of it, you come up with something that everyone thinks is okay. Most people like it, and nobody hates it.

That may solve the problem.