I think it’s impossible to implement the abstract definition of “democracy”. If we were to try that, everything should be decided by the citizens via elections and referenda. In that ideal world, we would not have representative democracy: we would not need politicians, except as pure bureaucrats (because they would not need to make any relevant decisions at all).

I think you will agree that ideal is not feasible. So the questions remaining are: “how far along the scale representative democracy / direct democracy is moral and efficient to go?” and “how to decide when citizens should be polled directly?”

So, when you say “issue X is not up to the Parliament to decide”, I think you need to provide a positive answer: who is then to decide? And what about issue Y? What are the objective criteria to decide when to hold a referendum or not?

Criticising an imperfect democracy is easy if one does not provide specific alternatives.