Unfortunately, we do not live in an ancient Greek city-state, where the heads of the household could gather in a small room and yell at each other over whose idea was best. We live in a nation of over 400 million, and every clueless 18-year-old has the right to vote if they so choose. The very notion of pure Athenian or Grecian style democracy presupposes a small city-state, as argued by James Madison in "The Federalist with the Letters of ‘Brutus’". Madison maintained (at the very foundation of our nation I might add, not later on in our nation's history) that that style of democracy lent itself to "turbulence and contention" and, in paraphrase, produced hasty decisions made in passion and unwise ignorance of the issue itself. Madison argued that a representative democracy, over and against pure Athenian democracy, allowed for a large and continually growing republic, and would 'refine and enlarge' the views and passions of the ordinary citizen by filtering the issues through an informed, qualified, and committed represantive elite (I know we don't like that word, but it is not meant in a sense of superiority, just availability to commit oneself to the task of legislation) who would be better able to 'discern the true interests of their country.' [A. Hamilton, J. Madison, and J. Jay, The Federalist with the Letters of 'Brutus', T. Ball (red.), Cambridge, 2003, p.43-45]

    You see, the ordinary individual simply does not have the time, nor the patience, nor the savvy, to interpret all the incoming data necessary to have a pure Athenian democracy in such a large nation, let alone evaluate it and make a fully informed decision. All kinds of 'pork' and extra government spending would slip into each and every piece of legislation, rendering the current levels of 'pork' utterly insignificant in comparison. These bits of 'pork' would be added by the few political zealots, like those who take the time to write and post on blogs like these, who have the free time to waste on digesting all the information and devising devious ways to implement their idealogy on the unsuspecting general public. Hardly anybody would vote at all, and a very small percentage of those voting would be making informed decisions on their vote.

    Before anybody even suggests it, I most certainly would not be surprised by how many people actually would care enough to vote, because I have been and continue to be surprised by how few people actually do care enough to vote in even a Representative democracy. Here in Kansas City, less than 10% turned out to vote for the Mayoral and City Council election (something incredibly close to home and important within a single city), more surprisingly, less than 2% of the inner-city population turned out to vote.

    The very mention that pure Athenian style democracy, or even anything close to it, could work in such an incredibly large nation is as preposterous as it is naive. Absolutely Impossible.

Hello all.
Well said, Sabastian!

I prefer the phrase "Constitutional Democratic Republic" to describe the government of the United States.
Everyone, you can find the answer to this core issue in the words of the master himself, James Madison in "The Federalist, No. X". His language is a bit dated and his style a bit wordy, and this makes it a difficult read. But stay with it!    
In addition, there are two excellent sources that allow a glimpse into the practical duties of our "real" U.S. government by two men who served in it after the ink was barely dry. Both were commenting on the problems that were already becoming apparent. Try George Washington's Farewell Address, and Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address.
Currently, there is one political party that seems to have developed from the same concerns that fostered this website, and that seems to embrace the principles upon which this website is founded. Check out the Consitution Party.
 
John