The given passage discusses the role of petitioning in democratic governance; it highlights how petitioning can shape political agendas, recruit citizens to causes, give voice to the voteless, and apply the discipline of rhetorical argument to clarify points of view. The passage also compares petitioning to elections, stating that petitioning supplements the electoral process and enables ongoing engagement with the government. The author does not make a judgment about the relative superiority of petitioning or elections, but rather focuses on the specific ways in which petitioning can contribute to democratic functioning. Option C accurately summarizes the points discussed above. Option A is incorrect because the passage does not state that petitioning is "an ideal form of representative democracy." It only mentions that petitioning can give voice to the voteless and apply the discipline of rhetorical argument, but it does not make a broader claim about the superiority of petitioning over other forms of democracy. Option B is incorrect because the passage does not suggest that citizens are becoming less inclined to petitioning. In fact, the passage does not address the prevalence of petitioning in contemporary times at all. Option D is incorrect because the passage does not state that petitioning is more representative of the collective voice than elections. It only mentions that petitioning can give voice to the voteless, but it does not make a comparison to elections in this regard. The passage also does not suggest that the functioning of democratic government would necessarily improve if we relied more on petitioning instead of holding periodic elections; it simply states that petitioning has been important to democratic functioning in the past, and that it supplements the electoral process by enabling ongoing engagement with the government.