Perhaps I was unclear, the "they" I was referring to in my original comment was tankies and fascists, as mentioned in the OP.
Anyways, this:
Happiness of the people, rights for minorities, salaries, education.i could go on and on how countries that have democratised have made lives better for the people who live there.
is a pretty vague and meaningless. In theory? Sure, sounds nice. In practice? It's twisted doublespeak for systems that are still fundamentally authoritarian.
Again, what is democracy, really? How are these metrics measured?
There's so much to unpack I'm not really sure where to start. Are you coming from a perspective of " capitalism can be reformed with democracy" or "voting with your dollar is democracy manifest" or smthn else?
Yeah I've got no quick 'n' easy answer to what you're putting on the table here, take it as a compliment, lol. As an anarchist I approach things with a certain worldview which I imagine you disagree with on a pretty fundamental level.
Overall, the system we live in is still governed by capitalist principles (and assumptions about society/humanity) even in cases like the nordic model which is considered "progressive" despite being a hybrid of social democracy and corporatism.
Even putting aside the whole discussion about the "tyranny of the majority", democracy in practice really isn't all that "democratic". Between lobbying, corruption, the class system, societal biases, the manipulation of information, the education system itself... if you believe all that can still add up to the best we can achieve, at least currently, and that if any change for the better is to be made it's through this system, and you're firmly rooted in this belief... yeah I guess there's not much else I can say to you.