Democracy can only exist under certain conditions and it's not the panacea that the left likes to pretend it is. Democracy requires:

1). An informed, intelligent, and vigilant electorate.
2.) Respect for rule of law and equality under the law (a bit redundant)
3.)100% publicly funded elections
4.) Equitable land tenure

If you don't have these criteria you have some variant of oligarchy with rubber stamp elections, and the U.S. fails on all four.