I think you missed the point of my reply - I did not raise the matter of costs, and I agree that they are not the overriding factor. The Disraeli quote is to t

I think you missed the point of my reply - I did not raise the matter of costs, and I agree that they are not the overriding factor. The Disraeli quote is to the point: the "representational" part of representational government is thorny, and pretty much ensures that a ruling clique is put in place whose interests do not mirror that of the electorate very well. The constitution of representational democracies always put in place a watchdog over the powers of parliament: in the US, it is the legal system. In Turkey, it is the army. In the UK, it is the monarchy. Many people seem to think that law courts are an obviously superior guarantor of democracy than monarchies, few are able to argue the point well.