When making that argument, you'll want to add a few examples.

Otherwise people think you mean dictatorship.

The vast majority (262 out of 351) of Massachusetts municipalities are direct democracy. A further 31 are near enough that it’s not hard to be elected if you run (my precinct has empty rep. slots every year).

Also in contrast to the rest of the US, there are no unincorporated areas ("county land") in Massachusetts. Counties aren't a useful demarcation here. Everything is a Town or a city.

I think you might be confusing representative democracy with capitalism.

I think what is missing is control over the representatives. When you elect someone, you give them your power, you should be able to take it back when they abuse it.

In a representative democracy, transparency and control are key and when this is not enforced, people tend to think the system is broken and does not work. It would work if that is fixed