Is the US. a democracy

Answer 1

No. As evidenced by The Federalist Papers, the US was intentionally created as a "representative republic" by the founding fathers. Though some of them hoped it would become a democracy, the fears of their contemporaries that democracy would turn into mob rule, ultimately taking their fortunes from them, caused them to opt for the representative republic form of government as the next best thing, since it held at least one aspect of democracy: the vote.

Most Americans mistakenly believe the US is a democracy simply because our leaders relentlessly tell us that it is. But, rather than being controlled by the true will of the majority of Americans, it is and always has been controlled by a tiny elite group, just like all other countries.

Democracy is a form of government in which the will of the majority of its citizens holds the ultimate power. If you still think the US is a democracy, just ask yourself if our vast majority ever voted for rampant political corruption, war, poverty, or pollution. Real democracy would almost instantly uncorrupt itself, quickly producing conditions of security, peace and prosperity, because that's what the majority of every population on Earth would choose.

In a pure democracy, the majority can violate the human rights of the minority. Mob rule becomes legal. For example, the majority religion can be made the state religion , imposed on everyone.

The United States is a democratic republic, by definition, because it is mostly controlled by representatives, but the people have a say in some things.

Answer 2

YES. The US is a presidential representative republic which is a type of indirect democracy. In representative republic, the people elect representatives from their region who vote on all legislation. However, the US is not a direct democracy which would require votes from all people on all legislation.

In contrast to the Community Answer, in modern political-science parlance, a "democracy" is defined as a government form where citizens can participate in government via voting in open, free elections where the election provides a meaningful choice to the citizen. It does NOT mean that the citizen has to directly participate in the government themselves, which would be a direct democracy.