"Roughly 2,500 years ago, the citizens of Athens developed a concept of democracy that’s still hailed by the modern world. It was not, however, a democracy in which every citizen had a vote.
Our democracy isn’t functioning as well as it should. A vast swath of our population is underrepresented. For those who do vote, their choices are heavily influenced by reductive ads often financed by wealthy individuals or corporations with vested interests. Small-group elections could save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year. And since they are easier to run, they could be held more often, giving citizens a greater voice in government. If we aspire to be a country governed by the people, we should return to the foundations of our democracy: Let a random subset of the citizenry make reasoned decisions that best express the national will."
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/05/st_essay_voting/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+UK
