The author liked to play around with possible political systems in his books. One of my favorites was that you get to choose your constituency. Instead of voting based on your address, you get to pick what group you're a member of. "Soccer moms" could be one, or "mass transit users," or even "gamers." There's a long passage in 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress' where the author's stand-in rants to the Lunar Congress about writing their new Constitution.