Recently the democrats spent 35 million dollars on the four special elections since Trump won. Before that in 2016 federal election the democrats spent 1.4 billion and republicans 958 million. Of this Clinton’s campaign received 16 percent of its money in donations of $200 or less. Trump’s campaign received 26 percent of its funds from donations under $200. We have a system that is heavily weighted in favor of money and rich donors. This is not real democracy. The system is not only "rigged" but its also "hacked" to favor special interests and corporate donors instead of "we the people".
An incredible amount of money is spent on getting candidates elected. Imagine if these vast sums of money were put into a direct democracy platform to allow citizens to have input on pending proposals like bills and budgets. Citizens could democratically direct their representatives how to vote in government.
Real democracy is the "will of the people" as often expressed through referendums, ballot initiatives or similar civic tools. Society will make an evolutionary step forward when they embrace a social media platform for direct democracy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/campaign-finance/
https://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim