elections and democracy

i havent read ayn rands "atlas shrugged" completely .. after about 300 pages, i stopped for some reason ... but the over all feel in the book, where a few people mostly run the world and others just tag along, seems to be strikingly similar to the india our politicians want if manifestoes are anything to go by .. 

everyone is competing with each other to give sops to the "needy" .. suppose there are 100 people in india and 10 are taxpaying employees or employers .. the remaning 90 are "needy" .. it is clear that anyone who wants to win needs the support of the needy coz elections are all about numbers .. the flaw here is clear .. every politician will promise the world to the 90 "needy" folks .. no one would give a damn about the 10 workers coz that segment is too small to make a difference .. now the politicians who love sops win, and they use the tax money to pay for the sops .. the "needy" stay "needy" but are well fed and taken care of .. its hardly a surprise if 1 from the 10 workers think "why in gods name am I working!,  I can just be a "needy" person and chill out" .. its clear where the country will be headed given this incentive structure for hard work and chilling out .. 

somehow, i dont see a solution to it .. the concept of majority wins will have this flaw always .. and the only solution is that everyone sees the flaw and works against it .. something i feel may be possible with education to all .. but we are far away from attaining that in India ... so maybe democracy will mature in India only once the social factors mature .. but dont we need a good govt for that? hmmmm