The great thing about jury duty is you get a very clear sense of what self-government is about. It makes you feel empowered which can be even more uncomfortable than feeling powerless. 

So much of the frenetic activity online is about that sense of powerlessness. So we give money to causes or we join in boycotts, but these aren't as powerful as participating in governing. Jury duty is a very quick way to do that. 

We have to act more like citizens and less like subjects. I think that's the real message of the election of 2016. Subjects elect someone like Trump. People who think like citizens would elect someone very different.