You are right, its absurd to compare greek "democracy" to modern day democracies. Athenian democracy was better then most modern day democracies. 1) It made us

You are right, its absurd to compare greek "democracy" to modern day democracies. Athenian democracy was better then most modern day democracies. 1) It made use of ostracism - enemies of democracy were excluded from public life (for up to 10 years) in public referendum. 2) It was a direct democracy while modern democracies are representative democracies - which makes them de facto oligarchy of professional political class 3) It balanced citizens rights against duties ie. top tax bracket citizens served in hoplites during the war while lowest class was exempt from military service. Yes Greek democracy excluded women and slaves but Athenians would be amused by the notion that women could be citizens and modern democracies also exclude non-citizens like low paid, migrant workers from democratic process. My point - I am attempting to be sarcastic above - is that democracy is a moving target. Athens set certain imperfect model from which we draw upon for the last 2,4 thousand years. And that if you read detailed accounts of Athenian politics surprisingly a lot of their dilemmas could echo today - human nature I guess.