One solution to this is more direct democracy. When people can propose initiatives and vote on them in referendums, it is harder for politicians to ignore that agenda. This works pretty well in Switzerland.
Democracy that works in a country of 8.6 million does not scale up to work for a country of 330 million.
The place where women couldn't vote in federal elections until 1971, and in local elections as late as 1990?
(It's a known fact, yes, in general, people do vote more socially conservatively in referendums, often backing up status quo. But that doesn't prevent progressive politicians to come up with better proposals.)
In any case, if we use your logic, US would be perfect country for this, being one of the last countries on Earth that doesn't have universal health care system.
Interestingly, many U.S. states do have some direct democracy provisions, courtesy of the progressive movement at the beginning of the 20th century. But what I heard it was sabotaged at federal level by the administration at the time, because U.S. wanted to get a bit involved in WW1 and it could potentially prevent that.