How should they do it?
Do you listen to everyone equally? Can it even be done?
Do you listen to everyone equally? Can it even be done?
If I'm remembering right, prior to James Madison's writings, there wasn't a real distinction between democracy and republic, besides the fact that democracy was Greek and republic was Latin.
Madison in the Federalist Papers made the distinction between democracy and republic that are your talking about, but it is pretty arbitrary.
Now you are right that we don't live in a direct democracy (though states have features), but we are still a democracy and a republic.
Now that I am being pedantic someone will probably point out where I am in error, but I just felt like posting some information for whoever may find it useful. :)
I had a feeling I was going of faulty memory myself. I will certainly find out about that book.
I think "listen" deals in influence where as yes, one vote per citizen deals with democracy.
The USA is not a democracy, it is a republic, a system where people vote for a small number of representatives who then decides policy in the name of the people.
Nowadays these two words have shifted in meaning in popular usage, what used to be democracy is now called direct democracy and what used to be a distinct republic is now indirect democracy or representative democracy a.k.a. democracy. This kind of slippery semantics is most probably a consequence of years of propaganda to persuade people they live in a democracy so they won't ask for one.
Then again, in the USA as many other places around the world, this small number of elected representatives holding the power of policy are subjected to the oligarchic / plutocratic power and influence of a few wealthy entities.
Or as better said in this quote:
«the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.»
It's just clear that if you have money, and a lot of it, you have a voice in shaping the world. If you don't have money regardless of what position you are in, you don't have a voice (extreme popular outliers excluded).