What is Democracy in Theory and in Praxis?

What does it mean to say we live or participate in democracy? How does one effectively recruit the participation of others in such an endeavor? When the vox populi is silenced, how can it be reclaimed? If a government is meant to be of the people, for the people and by the people, what are the implications when only a fraction of the people elect a select few to represent them? Does the trickle down effect apply to civic duty, or are grassroots efforts required?

With the presidential primary elections fast approaching, we should all reflect on such questions. The power of the proletariat may have fallen with the Berlin Wall, but a new agent of social change emerged: the social worker - made up not only of the working class, but also of youth, students, academics, under- and unemployed, under- and uninsured, cultural figures, ecologists and environmentalists, women, minorities and other marginalized groups. It is up to us, the social workers, to ensure the quality of our democracy; ensure that the vox populi will never be drowned out or silenced