I agree, but I agree with Churchill more, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
I think the quote you reference has a small, but significant flaw in the argument it creates (emphasis mine):
If you are inclined to believe that democracy will function justly when "the right people" are elected, then bear in mind that each political party is elected precisely because its candidates are regarded as the best people available by the majority at the time.
I don't hold that as true, I don't think the majority actually do elect people on that basis. Also there's no connect between that supposition and the preceding point, democracy will ensure the right people are elected, if the right people are up for election.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason the right people don't, or if they do, they aren't the popular choice.
The fairest system (as opposed to the "best" system) has to be where there is freedom for anyone to up an elected representative and freedom for all to make that choice. Unfortunately in that system for numerous simple and complex reasons, there is little incentive for the right people to put themselves forward into that role.
I'm not sure what changes could be introduced to change that. I can see plenty of problems. Like for example here and even the US where the biggest incentive for elected officials is re election, not representation of the greater good. Ivan Yates made a good comment the other week that it sums up our elected representatives that Enda Kenny's first question on the phone each morning is enquiring what is going on back in Mayo.
So we could tinker around the edges to fix that type of problem, but then there's still a problem with getting the right people to come forward for election or representation.
Maybe the old Roman Senate system is the best or the Aristocracy (based on Aristotle's vision not British royalty bloodline) where a smaller group of "betters" make the decisions. But then look how that ended and we're back to the Churchill quote.