This does raise an interesting question, namely, does voting make a government Democratic? Consider Japan, which is heavily jerrymandered, and the entire political process has been engineered to promote incumbents. Despite regular voting, the same party (the LDP) has controlled the country for all but about 6 months of the last 50 years.

And what of America, where far less than half the eligible voters participate in elections? Can we say that it is truly a democracy if none of the people vote? In fact, we should be very worried about the existence of a "Voting Class," and be very concerned about what are the social characteristics of the large group of people who do not vote. To write them off as slackers dismisses the inequities that are alarmingly inherent in our society.

In a totalitarian state, it doesn't matter what people think, since the government can control people by force using a bludgeon. But when you can't control people by force, you have to control what people think, and the standard way to do this is via propaganda (manufacture of consent, creation of necessary illusions), marginalizing the general public or reducing them to apathy of some fashion.

— Noam Chomsky

In a totalitarian state, it doesn't matter what people think, since the government can control people by force using a bludgeon. But when you can't control people by force, you have to control what people think, and the standard way to do this is via propaganda (manufacture of consent, creation of necessary illusions), marginalizing the general public or reducing them to apathy of some fashion.

— Noam Chomsky

Exactly. The interesting thing is that most people who discredit Dr. Chomsky have never met him. In person, he is irresistibly reasonable.

It offers us a valuable lesson about dismissing people we disagree with when we have never had to look them in the eye.