Is US government for its people?

The following video is about the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio who believes that the United States government must represent 100% of its people. Click on the following link to find out what happened to him when he did so: https://youtu.be/wNL4wgb0vXc

His advice is that the people must get involved beyond just voting every 4 years. If we don’t, we will have a democracy only on paper!

Is US democracy only on paper?