It is better to have direct democracy than to have representative democracy because (we assume) the people know what is in their own interests. If direct democracy is not a good idea then democracy itself is not a good idea and if we have a state it will be totalitarian. If in the context of a state democracy is good then direct democracy must be the best form of democracy.
The circumstances in which democracy tends not to be direct are when we have constituency seats which have only one winner. If there are multiple winners then generally voters get what they want and so then we can describe this as approximating to direct democracy. When there are few winners (even only one winner) then people vote tactically and we end up with representative democracy. Proportional representation approximates to direct democracy and first-past-the-post is the most extreme form of representative democracy.
Direct democracy is the best form of democracy and proportional representation provides something very close to this but without the requirement for frequent referendums.
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