Given James Madison’s differentiation between the ancient and modern democracies in The Federalist, the current model of democracy is a better way to govern. This is true because the modern model of democracy retains many of the great things mentioned in Pericles’ Funeral Oration, while also making improvements in its overall effectiveness.
In his Funeral Oration Pericles describes what makes democracy great, “still although we have equality at law for everyone… we do not let our system of rotating public offices undermine our judgments of a candidate’s virtue” (Pericles’ Funeral Oration 40). Pericles’ statement that the best men are given power in democracy based on merit remains true today, with the inclusion of women. Similarly, the modern model of democracy follows the same mindset in preparing for war. “We leave our city open to all; and we have never expelled strangers in order to prevent them from learning or seeing things that… might give an advantage to the enemy… our enemies train to be men from early youth… we live a more relaxed life and still take on the dangers as great as they do” (Pericles’ Funeral Oration 41). Our modern immigration policy has never turned away any of those seeking shelter, even if we were at odds with their country. And unlike the Spartans, our current military is made up of volunteers who have lived relatively relaxed lifestyles versus those countries where service is mandatory, and we still remain the victor.
Some would argue that today there is little to no representation in areas where selected representatives fail in completing policies promised while they were running for office. To this I would agree, but I would argue that it is the exception rather than the rule. Though this comes at a sacrifice to some, the system of elected representatives allows for organized discussion, versus the unorderly mess that sometimes was Athenian assemblies. In an excerpt from The Old Oligarch, it argues that it is better for assemblies to allow the worst, least credible people to speak, because it will fall on deaf ears due to their unreliability. This is no longer the case today, with the world of social media and the rapid expansion of the nation, one’s credibility cannot be solidified by the majority of people. Baseless accusations are taken seriously in the same way that serious credibility issues are lost in the confusion. Overall the advantages of the ancient government reside in the modern model, containing only changes that “[are] managed not for a few people, but for the majority” (Pericles’ Funeral Oration 40).
The West in the Pre-Modern World 
One reason the Athenian democracy failed was because they allowed too many people to vote on decisions that were not fully educated on or qualified for. I completely agree with you that the democracy we have today is a better version of what the Athenians had in Ancient Greece. Limiting the amount of people in government prevents confusion and ensures that the representatives who are part of Congress are doing their jobs correctly. If everyone was allowed to speak in Congress then nothing would be accomplished because everyone always has something to say about everything. I think one of the biggest advantages our democracy has over the Athenian democracy is that it is organized and systematic, like you said. I think especially in our current state, if Congress were open to all there would be too many people and not enough time for them to speak. When you look at Ancient Greece, their population was much smaller than our population today, and with the lack of technology transportation was much harder. So even though assemblies in Greece were disorganized, they would be much more manageable than if we were to still have assemblies today.
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