I think it's also a question of power and knowing where you stand.

I'm pretty familiar with the work of some on... let's just say 'the right' who can be condescending, dismissive of.... who would never be proponents of democracy at all.  

Give them power and they'll dismis the same things for different reasons.  They, for the most part, aren't as vocal because they are aware of their current place in the power structure.  Right now it's always 'safe' to cry about muh democracy.

Thus for me the question looks less at political power balances and more toward how I should value the rights, opinions and autonomy of others where and when I have power to act on those values.