The alternative is: "Oh you don't like the politics where you live? You want human rights? 51% of your "peers" decided you don't get that. Here's my boot on your neck, stop resisting!"
The founding fathers designed the US as a republic to avoid the issues we see today.
> There is a story, often told, that upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: "A republic, if you can keep it."[0]
[0]https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educational-resources/h...
I would not do that again, but it was feasible.