you may not fully understand our constitutional system. Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our democracy...
You came so close this time, Maureen Dowd. Getting better!
You do not fully understand our constitutional system either.
America isn't "our democracy". It isn't even "a democracy", it's a Constitutional Republic.
Come to understand your misunderstanding of the "system" in place and you're there.
Is saying what you have to know is wrong "right" in your world?
Is the United States a democracy?
The United States is, indeed, a republic (individual sovereignty), not a democracy. (popular sovereignty) Accurately defined, a democracy is a form of government in which the people decide policy matters directly--through town hall meetings or by voting on ballot initiatives and referendums. A republic, on the other hand, is a system in which the people choose representatives who, in turn, make policy decisions on their behalf. The Framers of the Constitution were altogether fearful of pure democracy. Everything they read and studied taught them that pure democracies "have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths" (Federalist No. 10).