In what ways is a market-based economy compatible with democratic ideals?

A free market system is compatible with democracy as both are essentially defined by the idea of choice. In a democracy, citizens have some choice in the matter of whom they are governed by. One of the key tenets of democracy is superiority of free markets is that it enables people to have a wide array of choice in their economic life:

on this day in 1833, president andrew jackson announces that the government will no longer use the second bank of the united states, the country's national bank. a national bank had first been created by george washington and alexander hamilton in 1791 to serve as a central repository for federal fund

the idealization of the rural landscape ; admiration for the beauty of nature ; focus on an individual's inner concerns