From Monarchies To Democracies: Try Outsmarting The Average Citizen

The US is a representative democracy, not a direct democracy. Well, at least technically, though there are number of reasons, as you allude to, why this is not the case in practice.

That’s incorrect; it’s a federated republic.

It is a federal republic with strong oligarchic practices that actively limit the direct participation of the citizenry in government. Some states have stronger democratic traditions which include elements of direct democracy like voter or legislature-proposed propositions or legislature-proposed referendums. Gerrymandering and no limits on political donations have caused a significant degradation in participation in the political process by effectively requiring that only the most dogmatic ideologues from their respective parties are elected to office and punishing members who compromise with the opposite political party by voting them out at the next primary election. This takeover was orchestrated by the Koch brothers who funded candidates for state offices who then used their influence to redraw congressional district maps to maximize the number of Republicans with safe seats. The Democrats responded in kind in states with Democratic legislative majorities.

Yeah, Switzerland is interesting! I had no idea and will have to do some research!