Why do so many people think the U.S is a democracy?

Prime example of this was the 2000 Presidential election. When Al Gore won the popular vote, but by a margin much smaller than the margin of error for such an election, people were livid that he was not President. I learned in the 2nd grade that this scenario was very possible. I believe that the system we have now is a good thing.

Can you imagine doing a recount of over 100,000,000 votes? It took just 3 counties in Florida over a month to accurately recount the vote, and they did it 4 times, and each time they came up with a different number.

Now take that to a "true" democracy. Can you imagine if each bill in Congress were voted on by the public at large? Can you imagine the recounts and the scandals if the vote were even close? Scary indeed.

We live in a Republic. It may be a Democratically elected Republic, but it is still a Republic. Even according to Wikipedia, a true Democracy has everyone vote and a true Republic has limited voting.

Well....My wife cannot vote. She works, pays taxes, pays Social Security, has a drivers license, and is subject to all the laws of the US. She also is a resident Alien. A true Democracy would allow anyone to vote. My youngest Daughter cannot vote. An eight year old is still subject to rules and regulations of this country. I do not believe that people who are in prison can vote, and they know more about the direct impact of the law than anyone.

Perhaps if we can get a little more press time about the subject, or maybe get some industrious individuals to "correct" wikipedia, maybe we have a chance.

Even now, there are people that say that Hillary should not win the primaries if she does not have the popular vote. You know, as much as I would absolutely hate to see Hillary in the White House, if the superdelegates put her in the position to win the Presidency, that is what we have to live with. Those were the rules that were put into place before the election. A true Democracy would not allow such a thing to happen.

I have often wondered the same thing. I think it is schools and media combined. I am a girl scout leader and have had this conversation over and over. The best way I have found to explain this is the Pledge of Allegiance. "... and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands..." Children say this over and over and haven't listened to the words. How to fix it on a large scale...if you figure that out let me know.

Because we are a Democracy.

We just happen to have a Republican form of Government.

The USA is a republic run by representative democracy.

Schools do still teach that! You must have been napping.

It's hard to discuss fact from misunderstanding with a closed mind.

The schools lean on the democratic aspects of our society, because it's easier to get people jazzed about a system they think they control. If you told children what was really going on, they'd stop caring, and stop learning about it- which certainly wouldn't help anything.

The U.S.A IS a democracy because it has elections. The Deomocratic Republic of Congo is technically a bloody democracy.

All you need to be classified as a democracy is some kind of method of ensuring he public is heard in some way.

What you are implying (I think at least) is that its a bad democracy.

Different question mate.