Young was the commanding officer of Icarus Base and that was no more a democracy than any other military base. Even though Icarus was destroyed and everyone ended up stranded on the ass end of the universe, Young is still the commanding officer, and everyone was still required to obey him as they would on Icarus.
Says who? The US military has no jurisdiction on Destiny, something even Young later began to allude to himself.
Icarus was a US military base, and Young its commanding officer. Though the base is destroyed, and everyone has relocated to a starship, it's mostly the same people there and Young was still their commander. And thanks to the stones, they remained in contact with Earth, General O'Neill and the IOA and no one ever rescinded Young's authority. Except for the episode Earth, but even then, they replaced him with another military officer who stone-swapped in (Telford).
Trying to take the rules and regulations that were designed to govern life on Icarus and apply them to Destiny is absurd. They may still apply to the military personnel, but the civilians? Of course not, how could they? They are no longer employees, they are refugees. They can ditch their job, and therefore their obligations to the military any time they like - which they did. To force them to take orders from the military, which Young did, is to set up a military dictatorship. What's worse - he was inept too. There were absolutely grounds for a revolution, it's only a shame he wasn't put in his place.