MH
FWIW, Proportional Representation has been tried in various european and antipodean countries, usually without hugely increasing the number of officials.
http://www.fairvote.org/pr/Not everybody agrees with the glowing praise for PR... many democracies have seen promises about "negotiation rather than confrontation, better minority representation" and all the other slogans that convinced us to change, submerged under petty squabbling and expediency.
You can mix local and proportional representation to get the best of both- e.g.
http://www.elections.org.nz/elections/esyst/govt_elect.htmlJR
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
