What is Democracy?

After watching the documentary Beyond Elections, the question “What is democracy?” is stuck in my head. For a long time I have always thought I knew what democracy was. Growing up in the United States democracy was defined to me as the government of the United States. Democracy was a system of government in which the people were the basis of power and elected representatives acted to uphold the wishes and protect the freedoms of the American people granted to them in the Constitution. However, as I grew older and was fortunate enough to receive a quality education I began to question my idea of democracy.
In middle school I could not come to grips with how the United States could be a democracy when during World War II we searched out and seized thousands of innocent Americans simply for their Japanese ethnicity. I do not recall when the people voted or made it a wish to there representatives that all Japanese Americans be rounded up and forced into camps. Were we not aware of just how similar this move was to what Hitler's Fascist regime was doing to the Jews in Europe? Or how about during the Cold War when hundreds of thousands of young men were drafted into a "conflict" which was never voted on, never declared a war, and was started more for ideological and political reasons than for any actual necessity of defense? I could not comprehend how a democracy, which derives its power from the people and is meant to protect and nurture the freedoms of all mankind, could so easily and in the face of public outrage and protest commit such treason? This is not the democracy I thought I knew.
Another issue which I was forced to come to grips with was how democracy could be a true democracy, yet not grant political rights and protections to groups of people such as children, blacks, women, poor or homeless, the handicap, and to this day the LGBT community? If democracy is defined in part by its protection, under law, of the natural rights and freedoms of all persons then how could such a system justify oppression, neglect, violent repression, and even the enslavement of persons under its governance? I was infuriated and still am to this day that a form of government, as supposedly modeled by the United States, of the people, for the people, and by the people could so aggressively commit such actions against those from who it derived its power, purpose, and existence. All men are created equal or so the rhetoric goes yet in practice our "democracy" failed to live up to its definition and still does today.
These are just small examples anyone with a high school education could cite if intelligent enough to question the system. In college I learned of a great deal more which furthered my questioning of what democracy is and whether the U.S. actually functions as a democracy. Just too briefly cite a few examples of what I came to learn I need only to say these two words to point the reader in the right direction: Latin America. The United States has long been interested in the on-goings of our neighbors in this hemisphere. Whether we admit it or not, the United States government has been, secretly and not so secretly, directly active in the political and economical on-goings of most every Latin American nation. Starting in the 1950's and going on well past the turn of the 21st century, United States governmental institutions such as the CIA as well as American transnational corporations such as the United Fruit Company have been active in funding, planning, and conducting numerous governmental overthrows in Latin America. These well crafted and U.S. backed coups often replaced a democratic government with a U.S. friendly military dictatorship that actively murdered and tortured thousands of people regardless of nationality. One can see this in State Department documents in which plans were discussed to over throw social democracies like that of President Allende in Chile on September 11, 1973 and replace him with a ruthless and murderous military dictator named Pinochet. The direct and secretive involvement of the US government and American transnational corporations in military coups, the destruction of democratic structures, and the planned taking of human lives in Latin American countries is not the end of actions taken against democracy and freedom by our "free democracy."
The United States, through its dominant role in international governmental organizations like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, force feeds the domination of American transnational corporations as well as the full privatization of all national utilities and economic structures of Latin American nations such as Argentina. The end result as evidenced in Argentina in 2001 is the complete and utter collapse of the Argentine economy causing mass unemployment and poverty, wide spread starvation, increases in illnesses, and even in some cases death across the Latin American country. All of this is done in the name of freedom, democracy, and the protection of "American interests" and the "American way of life." Well I am sorry, but since when did the people of America vote in favor of or decide that the oppression of and forced extreme poverty upon the people's of Argentina was in our best interests or wishes? Since when did we the people decide that our way of life, in which 1 percent of the population holds 50 percent or more of the wealth, is best protected and worth the mass murdering and neglect of hundreds of thousands of Argentine citizens and citizens in countries around the globe? Since when did "All persons are born equal" and "have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" become all rich American white guys "are born equal" and "have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?"
This is not the democracy I thought I knew when I was growing up. America is not and cannot be the definition of true democracy. In fact the United States is no democracy at all. In my opinion the United States is a democratic regime of rich white men who further the exploitation of many to fuel feed their own pockets and need for power. They use the established system to lure and keep American citizens from realizing the corrupt and unjust society we live in. We live in a country where the only power we the people have is to elect officials into a position of limited power from which they assist the continuation of a world wide system headed by wealthy transnational corporations and governmental figures. The same elite population that live lavish lives while repressing, killing, and marginalizing anyone necessary for the continuation of their power including those activists who stand for justice regardless of nationality. If this, the reality of the United States, is the definition of democracy then I have no choice but to define democracy myself and fight for its existence.
Democracy, as it stated in the documentary Beyond Voting, is a process. It is not perfect from the start but rather develops and expands overtime. It is a form of political process that requires the direct and active participation of the people in the development of a better society in which the freedoms of all are protected, nurtured, and expanded. No majority rules, rather consensus rules so that no minorities are neglected or oppressed. The rights and equality of "the other" are respected and valued. The people are in power through direct participation, especially at the local level, in the decision making process. Democracy is a system where any elected officials are easily held accountable for their actions by the people for whom they are meant to be representing; a governmental structure that works to advance the living standards of all its citizens and the world without oppression or repression of any group of; a real government of the people, for the people, by the people that will never parish from the face of this Earth. That is democracy, a government worth fighting for.

Sources used to construct my argument: The book Empire's Workshop by Greg Grandin, and the documentary Beyond Elections, Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, and the Declaration of Independence.