The White House, unless you are in the residential area is nothing but a Public Place... or should be. It does not mean the public should be able to walk in and out, but everything going on there... is our business.
While theoretically I agree with the bolded above, unfortunately I don't think this is the reality, nor was ever intended to be the reality.
Our founding fathers were very concerned with the potential uprisings or revolutions of the masses and were very careful about how government was meant to operate. They directly recognized that their 'property rights' could be seized by masses of regular people. For that reason, the entire notion of 'tyranny of the majority' was born. Quite the opposite of what we were taught in school as some noble endeavor, that a tyranny of the majority and preventing of such protects the little guy, what it really was meant to protect were the landed aristocrats who had something to lose in regards to property or wealth compared to the masses of peasants
Our legal system, judicial, taxation, and government all follow this same pattern - in that there is a rule of law, however the laws are so vaguely sophisticated that if you are wealthy enough to "interpret" the law in one way, you can ensure it doesn't apply to you.
This would be why we don't have a direct democracy either - everything goes through representatives who ultimately have the final say in governance. It's why the Pentagon can get away with just losing trillions of dollars and nobody bats an eye.
All I'm saying is that American governance was designed in such a way that the aristocrats (little guy) remained safe - no matter who your "choice" was for representation. So instead of a real choice, they offer a limited choice - like me offering you a choice of wanting to be shot in the head, or run over by a truck. Why are my only choices for 8 years in a row between Biden and Trump? In a country this size, this is the absolute best we have to offer for leaders?
Further, money is so entangled in our governance for very good reason, yet nobody ever proposes a solution. You can play word games and call it "lobbying", but it's nothing more than legalized bribery - even if there is no implied quid pro quo, the expectation is there. That, among other things such as the DOD, MIC, Wall Street, most foreign policy, are institutions in our government that supersede partisan politics. I'm not saying both sides are the same, only that there are certain aspects to both sides that share commonalities that never get questioned, audited, or subjected to the supposed checks and balances.
In relation to your post, I don't think the idea was ever to give the common joe a say in his governance. Certainly, the illusion of such was offered - that we all have a vote, and of course there are certain things we can and do vote on, however there are other things that are never offered as up for discussion or subject to public input. The founding fathers recognized that in the past people were made to be subservient by whomever was carrying the biggest club. Instead, the US was founded on the principle that economic force could be just as forceful as carrying a big stick, and if you throw people a few little crumbs, they will acquiesce into thinking they are participating in government.