The USA is considered a democracy by most of the world. It advertises itself as such. When people vote in what they believe to be a democratic system, they naturally think that their voice is being heard and that they have some sort of control over the direction their country is heading. [Edit: Typo]

Because that's the view that the government likes to perpetuate. I geuss "Democracy" sounds better than the truthful definition of "Republic".

Propaganda had brainwashed many people.

uhh.. Because it is..

The United States is not a Democracy. It is more of a Republic, with representatives for the people, such as Senators and Congressmen. The reason that so many Americans think that USA is a Democracy is because it holds some of the most important essences of the ideology: The Five Freedoms: Religious Liberty · Speech · Press · Assembly · Petition.

The United States IS a democracy. To say it is not U.S. is ludricrous. We are a Constitutional Republic. We are also a democracy. A nation can be both. For instance France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and many more are also REPUBLICS and DEMOCRACIES. Britian is technically a Constitutional Monarchy, so you could say they are not a democracy, but of course we know they are.

Because the average person does not understand how system of government runs. They do not know the difference between being a Democracy and a democratic government.

We Americans like to think that we have control over our own government. Calling it a democracy is one of many ways we create the illusion of control.

I accept your forfeit. (it was about time.)

HaHa. YOU ordered this session to be closed (after having the last word of course) and yet I am the one with control issues??? And THEN you re-open the session cause you have some more shots to take??? I don't know GummyBear. You can't possibly accept that someone else disagrees with you, so you accuse me of inventing the guy. And I am the one who's desperate to be right??? You are seriously paranoid and delusional. So what if it's his only post? Many people lurk on these boards and decide to speak up when something really irks them. I work in Washington and have a lot of politically savvy friends - both democrat and republican. I've shown several of them this thread and they were appalled to see so much lack of understanding about our own government. Your thick-headed comments in particular had them shaking their heads and laughing out loud. THIS SESSSION IS NOW CLOSED!! LMAO!

I think it's because people vote. If you can vote, it has to be a democracy... right? Wrong. I let my kids vote on things, but I'm the one who picks what they choose from. Sure the US Citizens vote, but they have to vote for the lesser of two evils. They are people chosen by the two primary political parties, not by the people. Not sure a true Democracy would work here anyways... I've seen how some people think, and I'd be very afraid if enough of them had a voice to make change... scary thought... scarier than the current governmental system we have in place.

That's what we are being told.

thanks Kate! I appreciate the welcome. Peace back ; )

Because we are the Greatest country on earth.

we are told that it is and we are taught to accept whatever we are told in school america was the idea of a democracy but it is becoming less and less so all the time

Is any country in the world a 'democracy' in the true sense of the word?

democracy : a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them. Then any decision made from that time onwards ... is made with or without the consent or irrelevance to thought of those citizens that elects the one to power. Mmmm? good question ...

As they cannot understand reality

that is what is being and was always taught in school even though our pledge of alligiance is;; I pledge alligiance to the flag Of the United States of America, And to the Republic for which it stands, One nation, under God, indivisible, With liberty and justice for all Return to the

Funny, last time I checked, we were on our way to a police state... Oh, and to try to answer your question, middle America will swallow, and repeat almost anything they see on the news or in propaganda. I also would say that horrible inacurate history content in our schools may be to blame.

It is a becoming a country of sheeples and they are brainwashed into thinking we are a democratic society.

Hummm....We are first a democracy as defined: Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power. Majority rule. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community. We are second a republic as defined: A political order whose head of state is usually a president. A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them. For God sakes...with a nation as diverse as ours someone has to take lead, search though all the vast opinions and come to a conclusion. That isn't always good, but that's the American way.

Because it's a democratic republic. Al Gore invented it in Tennessee.

because they're stupid

Because our politicians cram it down our throats to say it is.

We vote for our leader, but after we vote we always decide that we made the right choice with the person we elected and we never get rid of them. We're to proud to think we were wrong.

Because at the creation of this country in the 18th century, it WAS a democracy. But eventually, those who were in power in the government wanted more power, so they made it law for them to have power, but only in a subtle way. Eventually, Congress came to obtain the most power, which is why we have an oligarchy today. Most people don't fight back, because for one they don't think there's anything to fight back against. They're taught that in the public schools. And secondly, people have been "dumbed down" by the government. You ever wonder why the public school system is no good? The government let that happen on purpose. They don't want the American public to know whats going on when they make their moves. Basically, anything the American government does today is smoke and mirrors. They don't want you to know what's really going on. When it comes to the illegal immigrants, a good government would've done something about it a long time ago. But the government is making a HUGE profit off of it. From Mexican truckers ,without any reason to be in America, trading around for the US government and stuff like that, they made a 5 TRILLION dollar profit. That's why Bush gave anmesty to those illegal immigrants. The putting up the fence on the Mexican border, just a distraction... Ever wonder why it was only on 1/3 of the border? Smoke and mirrors. And by the way, don't be surprised when in 5-10 years America, Mexico, and Canada are one nation. Everything is already being put in place. There are 6 lane highways in El Paso already, GOING SOUTH. Southern Canada and Northern US have already pretty much become the same thing. And to those of you who would argue the currency, it's gonna be called the Amero I think... something like that. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. But it's probably somewhat better if you were oblivious to it all. Celebrate America as a nation as long as you can in the meantime, you should anyway if you don't believe me.

It is actually the Republic of America,and not because it is anything to do with the republican party.

Let's all research Republic : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic and Democratic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic and then Democratic socialism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism shall we? Truly the U.S. is a Democratic Socialist country, with the way it is run today.