I think <i>representative</i> democracy and then specifically representative democracy with FPTP has been shown not to work, primarily because of the principal-agent problem and also the spoilt vote effect which in turn ensures a two-party system (i.e. Duverger&#x27;s law).<p>Direct democracy with smaller electoral districts and a saner voting system could be more efficient, or at least have much higher response times. Of course you&#x27;re still stuck with the self-fulfilling bottleneck that voters will seldom pick anything outside their cultural zeitgeist, but then it keeps the electoral system well contained and lets people focus more easily on actual activism.