If people ignore protests, whose fault is that? The government or the people? And you know, there have been some very successful protests... the US didn't originally have things like the Civil Rights Act.

While perhaps your favored ideological points are not currently being heard by the people you think should hear them, that does not discount the fact that US citizens have pushed for all sorts of laws that have been enacted. To draw upon a recent example, a good number of Republicans voted against NDAA 2012 when they initially were going to vote for it, solely because of citizens contacting them and expressing their concerns. The very fact that that happened proves that, for all we might complain, representatives (and other citizens) do listen.

It might be hard to get people to listen sometimes, and we might see incidents like the misuse of pepper spray, but if you think that puts us on the level of China then frankly you're completely deluded! You do realize that in China you can be incarcerated for talking about democracy, and that they have their own party-appointed leaders for religions like Tibetan Buddhism and Catholicism?