You can't have political democracy without economic democracy. Since economic theory is anti-democratic, pretty much by definition, the act of voting is irrelevant when real power comes from buying Senators and Congress people.

So no - we don't have democracy, and have never had democracy.

With economic and media democracy, rather than pantomime vote-for-nothing-much democracy, more enlighhtened management might become more likely.

Or not. But it would be an interesting experiment. And if the population were educated in social responsibility and participation from birth, who knows how it might work out?