What if you were a discriminated minority, and important decisions specifically affected you were put to a referendum?
Oops, 60% of the populace thinks you're a nuisance who should just shut up and put up (and ideally just go away).
Oops, 60% of the populace thinks you're a nuisance who should just shut up and put up (and ideally just go away).
In that case, direct democracy is indeed broken, but the reason is not "discrimination" against those who are actually pretty powerful, but eventual instability from the system's inability to act as a predictive proxy for more direct (less civilized) resolution.