"Science, economics, etc. are too complex for me (and the average person), but necesssary for political discussion. How on earth do we discuss politics in a democracy where the average person has a say when these subjects are pretty much meaningless to the average person?"
Well, the thing is that politics is partially based around beliefs. If there was a 100% correct answer to which political party would benefit society the most, we wouldn't need elections. In fact, elections could be harmful since people could vote for the (then evidently) least beneficial parties. Not to mention that we all value different issues differently; When we discuss politics we compare priorities.
In other words: When discussing politics it's not solely about being factually correct/incorrect. It's also about discussing beliefs and priorities, which should not be too complex for the average person.
Sorry if I'm not making any sense. I only read the TL;DR part.
