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Notes -
Voting also has the problem that it tends to reflect the preferences of coalitions that can organise well in order to provide concentrated benefits to voting blocks (NIMBYs, trade unions, pearl-clutching environmentalists, activist grifters, retirees etc.) rather than disorganised groups whose policy preferences would provide dispersed benefits to heterogenous voters (taxpayers being among the biggest victims of democracy). And as you suggest, good long-term policies are undersupplied by politicians, because politicians generally lack incentives to think long-term. This contrasts with a lot of even short-term business: if I buy a house to fix up and resale, then I want to be able to convince buyers that it's a good long-term investment.
I'm not saying that there is a better alternative, but even Churchill's "Democracy is the worst system of government, save the alternatives" is a pro tanto argument against government as much as it is in favour of democracy.
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