As I’m writing this, the world is still scrambling to recover from the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. The pound has crashed and other international markets aren’t looking too hot either. Short term economic prospects for the UK and Europe look bad, with many predicting a recession as a result of Brexit.

It’s a mess politically too. Spain and Brussels will clash with Scotland and possibly Northern Ireland if they were to become independent and rejoin the EU; Spain is dealing with its own nationalist secession movement and doesn’t want to encourage independent states breaking off and joining the EU. Brexit also opens the door for other important members of the EU to leave as well. The UK’s actions have created a dangerous precedent by putting its alliances up for vote via referendum; it poses an existential threat to the EU and all diplomatic alliances.

This whole garbage pit of a situation began when David Cameron opened this vote up to referendum. He did this in an attempt to pacify the far-right reactionaries within his own party. This, of course, backfired completely; by giving extremists an inch, they took a mile and the stability of the country with it. When a child is crying about going to the dentist, you don’t make him shut up by giving him the wheel of the car. But that’s exactly what Cameron did, and now the UK is going full speed off of a cliff.

This year has already tested the boundaries and limits of democracy. In the Democratic primaries, we had one candidate calling for a more direct elections by getting rid of super-delegates and allowing for open primaries. On the Republican side, the primary voters routed the political establishment to elect a demagogue with no political experience.

The British people have spoken, there’s no questioning that. But if that means plunging the country into a recession and breaking off ties with its allies, how much are their voices really worth?

The American people have spoken too. But if it means electing someone who is dangerously unqualified, how much should their voices be worth?

The truth is that direct democracy can be dangerous. It might make more sense from an idealistic standpoint (“If it’s what the majority wants, then why shouldn’t they have it?”), but results aren’t always great.

If the majority of the U.S. population voted to carpet bomb Massachusetts, then that wouldn’t make it right or feasible. If all of the students in a class vote to not take the final and get A’s, then the professor still gets the final say. And if 53 percent of the UK wants to make a decision that virtually every expert says will hurt the economy, then they should not be able to. The tyranny of an ignorant majority is something our founding fathers feared. Considering that UK voters just wiped $2 trillion off the world markets, that fear was justified.

As incompetent as they sometimes seem, people in government are doing their jobs. Although they may disagree on minutiae, experts are experts for a reason. Pick the ones you feel represent you and let them do their jobs.

A racist farmer in Sheffield shouldn’t be able to sink the European economy by checking a box on a ballot. That’s the danger of populism, and ultimately, the danger of democracy. We should respect these safeguards instead of tearing them down, or we might find ourselves in a truly unsafe position.