Does Democracy mean voting and representation?

In the UK, the government has arranged for the electorate to raise issues for discussion in parliament via an online petition system.
This appears on the surface to be an example of democracy in action.
The current issue demanding debate is whether the UK should have a referendum on the relationship with the European Union … In, Out, or Redefine the Relationship.

As this is occurring at a time of great social and economic upheaval across the European union with bailouts and austerity strategies, the UK government has decided, along with other political parties, to prevent a free vote on the debate.

This demonstrates the use of the ‘whip’ system to force MPs to vote according to party political opinion, and not their own, or the opinion of their electorate.
This demonstrates the authority of government to prevent debate having any effect on the running of government.
(please read that again ! )
The populace is encouraged to believe they live in a democracy, where their opinions are taken into account in the running of the country.
This is a lie !
In reality the debates that happen as a result of public pressure are all a ‘play before the public‘ … the outcome is always settled by party political ‘whips’ controlling the voting !

This use of a ‘sandbox for debates‘ allows the government to give the public the appearance of addressing issues, whilst continuing with their own party agenda independently.
This demonstrates the systemic conflict of interest for all MPs.
MPs are voted into office to represent the needs of their constituents.
However, they are forced through the ‘party whip’ system to ‘toe the line’ on major issues.

This means MPs cannot represent their constituents freely !
The process of democracy is subverted into elite political authoritarianism.
This is not a democracy … this is the voting system completely co-opted by an authoritarian (party political) regime.

I see no fundamental difference between the ‘party political democratic process’ and the ‘theocratic authoritarian process’ of Islamic state systems.
Both are controlled by an elite authoritarian political group.
The only difference western democracies demonstrate is a greater use of media, to give the electorate the illusion of choice, and the illusion of representation.

Modern politics in the world of mass media is more about the management of public opinion, than it is about representation of the needs of the electorate !
Please realise that the vast majority of debates in the political arena are for the management of public opinion, and NOT political reasoning or resolution !
These observations of government behavior demonstrate that party politics is ‘gangsterism with PR’ (public relations) , and very definitely NOT democracy !’ ~ Unknown