The problem is, though, that the article reflects the opinion of a huge fraction of the population.

The original poster, Marie, for example, presumably thinks that there are trust problems associated with our current representative systems, and I hear this over and over in the U.S. For example, lack of trust in representative government is one of the arguments used to support a continued fight for "lower taxes," even if this gets translated into "lower taxes mostly for the rich" because since no system is perfect, a system that reduces my taxes even a little bit is better than one that raises them.

States in the western part of the U.S. tend to have systems that allow direct representation by citizen-initiated petitions for changes to state constitutions. This is a huge problem in California and Colorado, where the state constitutions continue to grow without bound, often with conflicting amendments that have to be sorted out by the courts, and with financial rules that make it virtually impossible for the legislatures to manage the state budget. Many, many people think that this is a better way to run things than for the citizens to give up control to, presumably, corrupt politicians.

In Colorado, the TABOR amendment has essentially crippled government services across the board. Many people think this is just fine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxpayer_Bill_of_Rights

If there weren't so many obviously corrupt politicians, the arguments for representative government would be a lot easier to support...