Actually, that's not true in the U.S. Before the WWI, there was a strong movement (which was killed by federal government because of the WWI) to direct democrac

Actually, that's not true in the U.S. Before the WWI, there was a strong movement (which was killed by federal government because of the WWI) to direct democracy in many U.S. states and it left with the democracy that's modern comparatively to many countries even today. I don't think it's a coincidence that the two most democratic countries, USA (at least at local level) and Switzerland are also among the most successful ones. The "they have to wait until they are ready" argument was always a red herring regarding democracy. It's like with any other skill, you don't learn by waiting until you're ready to become an expert, you learn by doing.