There is 'democracy', simply defined as "majority rule," and then there is the democratic political process. The latter abolishes arbitrariness in determining who within the community is allowed to participate in the process. I agree that 'citizenship' is an exclusionary category, but that can hardly be laid at the feet of democracy: that has been the case in every geopolitical community that that ever existed. I also accept that a democratic political process can be corrupted, especially by money, but as the only just form the political process (the process of effecting choices for the communiity as whole) can take, it is worth the effort to achieve/defend.