[PaulDavisThe1st]

Direct democracy can come with and without a constitution that says the wolves cannot eat the sheep. I like the version with the constitution.

"Tyranny of the masses" is a red-herring. If your constitution (and its enforcement mechanisms) are good, the masses can't do anything to the minorities other than make them irritated (which is a condition we all live in from time to time). And if your constitution isn't good, then your "republic-not-a-democracy" is going to suck for some (or even all) people, too.

I don't agree that there are "no right sizes". I do agree that we don't know what they are yet.

States are not what we have, states are one-sized thing that we have, but we also have villages, towns, cities, counties and even in some cases and for some purposes, regions. And while you may think that its fine, others do not.