entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

A friend of mine wrote a long series of SF stories back in high school set in an interestingly designed libertopia, later the setting of our long-running Traveller campaign. The magickal device supporting the whole thing was a unique supercomputer built on an irreproducible unit with a very limited capacity to send information backwards in time. Because it infallibly predicted the result of any direct referendum, it replaced corruptible elected officials with government by virtual referendum. The other essential feature was that individuals became part of this self-governing body by purchasing a franchise--but could only buy one equal vote, so it was governed by majority rule, not tightly held controlling interests. It was an interesting study in heavy-handed government enforcement of free association and the tyranny of the majority.