The US is not, never has been, and should never be a Democracy!

I actually did learn in school that this country is a constitutional republic of independent democratic states, which is why each state has representatives in the House and Senate. I agree with you, x and Taskr...too many in this country are uninformed, apathetic and greedy.

I don't think it's a matter of many people being taught wrong by their civics or history teachers I think it's more a matter of some never having had civic or history classes or not paying attention if they did. Then they grow up and hear the word "democracy" over and over again and hear our politicians talk about wanting to "spread democracy throughout the world" and they don't know any better. Annie

Well true democracy is a joke. If it really were a viable form of government, you'd actually SEE one somewhere in the world. Democracies don't work for several reasons, many of which xfahctor already listed. The single biggest one is that the majority is almost always wrong. The majority of people are NOT well educated. People might get pissed at me for bringing this up, but look at the how obama got elected bit, BOTH SIDES. Republicans may have scored better, but on the whole, they sucked too because the majority of people don't know $hit about the candidates. That's why we try to elect people smarter than the average moron to make the important decisions. Sadly, those "smarter people" have taken advantage of the uneducated majority in this country and use bribes and trickery to get votes which is what has us in our current situation.

Some words of wisdom from the past: [i] 'A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence: 1. From bondage to spiritual faith; 2. From spiritual faith to great courage; 3. From courage to liberty; 4. From liberty to abundance; 5. From abundance to complacency; 6. From complacency to apathy; 7. From apathy to dependence; 8. From dependence back into bondage. [/i] ~ The Fall of the Athenian Republic, 1787, Alexander Tyler By my figuring, we are probably between steps 6 and seven right now and on a fast track to step 8. The founders feared an absolute democrocy because they understood it leads to absolute tyrany, so they established a constitutional federal republic of democratic states. I am fond of another quote, though I cannot remember who it was that originaly said it, "Democrocy is 2 wolves and 1 sheep voiting on whats for dinner"

Isn't that what life is all about? Appearances? We pretend to be one thing to appease people when truly we are something else? I'm going to have to go back and read my son's Civics textbook (I've learned a lot this year in the 7th grade!) Besides Constitutional Republic and democracy, I think there was another word in there that was used to describe our government. I can't remember what it is right now.

Actually, we are are a democratic republic. You're right, we are not a direct democracy, but there are democratic principles at work in our system. Democracies are unwieldly and difficult to manage, the larger they become. Republics are more efficient. But we wouldn't have the both the House of Representatives and the Senate if we were merely a Republic. Either would satisfy the republic status. Having both add another element to the mix, in the words of the Founders "majority rules but the minority is protected." Thus, a democratic republic.