Athenian democracy would be a really bad idea. Now, we have something called an indirect democracy. This means that citizens choose leaders and they speak on our behalf. In Athenian direct democracy, all citizens speak for themselves. In the U.S especially, there are way too many citizens for this to work. Also, back in ancient times, the only citizens were men, 18 years and older. Everyone else was banned from participation in the government. Hope this helps.