Democracy with an asterisk

Recently, someone asked me some questions regarding democracy, specifically democracy and the USA. I saved my answers to the questions: "Do we live in a democracy?" and some question like "Would you rather live in a democracy? Why/Why not?"

The stuff that's italicized is just expanding on the original answers.

Do we live in a democracy
No. We do not live in a democracy because the people or population don't actually have a voice when it comes to final decisions or those that ultimately affect the entire country. Those decisions are made by elected officials who don't always have the interests of their constituents in mind. More often than not, they're out to serve their own interests and make it so they and/or their bosses benefit. If we really did live in a democracy, 300 million people would have to come together to make decisions regarding the direction of this country and while this is a noble thought that would follow what democracy is supposed to be, it's a bad idea in practice because hardly anything would get done. There would be an endless amount of fighting thanks to sharply differing ideologies and thought processes, not to mention a horrible hatred that seems to be present among everyone- racism, sexism, discriminating against religion, creed, sexual orientation, etc etc etc. Since this country is diverse, those differences WILL be present, regardless of how hard you try to squash their presence. Bummer.

Would you rather live in a democracy? Why/Why not?
What we live in is the closest thing to democracy we will ever have unless we can all get our asses out of our heads. So yes, I would rather live in a democracy where everyone theoretically has a role in shaping their government. The opposite may be true but it has provided a relatively stable albeit shaky balance that has kept us from destruction time and time again, in my opinion. This thing we, at the moment, call democracy is better than dictatorships that always fail. And better than anarchy (in which there is no government) because human nature at this point precludes the possibility of living in mutual peace- somebody will always find a way to take advantage of the lack of governing body and cause chaos. Until we all become enlightened and shake off what ever it is that makes us all assholes who look out for only ourselves, anarchy and communism, socialism, will never fully work beyond theories. What we call democracy may not be true democracy but it is a good alternative that allows us to keep our freedom, rights and privileges until they are bought or sold en masse.

I personally don't believe myself when I say these kinds of things. Why? Because they're just ramblings and more often than not, tend to be misinformed/lacking in knowledge and such.