What is Democracy?

Democracy (from Greek d?µ???at?a (demokratia), d?µ?? (demos) the common people + ??ate?? (kratein) to rule + the suffix ?a (ia), literally "the common people rule") is a system where the population of a society controls the government. It may be narrowly defined as that of nation-state government specifically, or more broadly to describe a society as a whole, which can also exert political power and social power.

Democratic government aspires to serve under "the people" rather than ruling over them. This ideal is pursued by implementing some form of a voting system, usually involving indirect representation.

Liberal democracy is defined as democracy over an entire society, and implies individual liberty and individual responsibility as a citizen of that society. It extends the concept of distributed power all of the way to individual citizens in their personal domains - personal sovereignty and private property tempered by civic duty. In such a society, sovereignty originates in the people and is delegated to government rather than vice versa.

Because democratic government and democratic society are inter-related and used interchangeably, they are often confused, usually when one expects all of the benefits of democratic society to follow from the mechanisms of democratic government. While a democratic society has a democratic government, the reverse is not always true. A democratic government, while preventing despotism of abuse of power by a governing minority, does not protect other minorities from social forces from other members of society with other forms of power that may be played out through plutocracy within an existing democratic government, or majoritarianism. Democratic governments may be "liberal", where fundamental rights of individuals in the minority are protected by law, or they may be "illiberal" where they are not.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Jefferson 2nd President of the United States -
Quotations

“We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
Thomas Jefferson

“Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.”
Thomas Jefferson

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”
Thomas Jefferson

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
Thomas Jefferson

“I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another”
Thomas Jefferson

“The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.”
Thomas Jefferson

John Adams 3rd President of the United States -
Quotations

“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”
James Madison

James Madison 4th President of the United States -
Quotations

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
James Madison

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
James Madison

“It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”
James Madison

“The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.”
James Madison

“Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.”
James Madison

“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.”
James Madison