Democracy Sets Up Rules

I remember being taught at school that democracy was government of the people, by the people for the people. But that's been lost and we see ourselves as merely electors who decide on a government once every three or four years. And it seems to me that you can only really participate effectively goes back to the local level. I'm testing out what I understand to be the case. The Constitution is designed to ensure that a good and noble citizenry exercising responsibility will be equipped and empowered to ensure government responds to them. They're not required to respond to government.