"I thought that this was supposed to be a democracy!"

Democracy.  Great, isn't it.

But what is it?

And why is it great?

Taking the second point first, it's great for all sorts of reasons.  They can be summed up like this.  Where else would you want to live, other than the UK (or US, if you're American)?  Chances are, you'll say New Zealand, or Canada, the Netherlands or Ireland.  Or somewhere similar.

You probably won't say North Korea, Russia, Zimbabwe, or Azerbaijan.

If you could choose anywhere from the past 50 years it probably wouldn't be Franco's Spain, Pinochet's Chile, or Mao's China.  And if you've said Castro's Cuba, you maybe need to do a little research.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/11/fidel-castro-s-human-rights-legacy-a-tale-of-two-worlds/

Why do we want to live in countries on the first list?  Well, what those countries have in common is that they're 'free' and 'rich'.  And by 'rich' I don't mean bathing in champagne, or having a gold plated Rolls Royce, I mean you never go to bed hungry, if you're ill there'll be a great health service to look after you, and you don't spend much of your life looking at any other country thinking "Why are they so much better off than me".  Because there aren't any.

And by 'free' I mean you can criticise the government without getting locked up, vote for whichever party you like, form a new party if you don't like what's on offer, and there's probably some party or pressure group already representing your point of view.  Meanwhile, you can behave pretty much as you like, as long as you're not hurting anyone else (admittedly, with some exceptions).

Rarely are other countries as well off, and when they are, they're nowhere near as free.

But some other countries do call themselves democracies.  You do get a vote of sorts.  So aren't they democracies too?

Yes and no.  Democracy started in ancient Greece - Athens to be precise.  In Athens, every citizen got to go down to the forum, they could speak if they wished, listen to others, and then vote on the issue at hand.

But that's not what we do.  We don't vote on issues.  We vote for people to represent us, and they vote on the issue.  And with good reason.  Most of us simply don't have the expertise, and certainly not the time to research, debate and vote on complex laws.  Similarly, the security implications of making everyone aware of all the relevant facts all of the time are too ridiculous to contemplate.

So we're not a direct democracy like Athens.  We're a representative democracy.  Like the US, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

And every now and then we hear of an election in some far off land where voters are intimidated, the opposition parties can't hold rallies, and the governing party censor the TV and press.  They're a 'democracy' in that everyone can vote, but their freedoms often stop right there.  In the same way that ancient Athens was a democracy of sorts, and Zimbabwe is a democracy of sorts, they don't tick all the boxes, even if they do 'go with the majority'.  So when someone uses the word 'democracy' they usually mean something more than just 'what most people want'.

Tell someone you're talking away a free press and they'll soon say "That's not a democracy", even if most people voted for it.

So when we say 'democracy' we don't just mean that we think it's the morally right thing to follow whatever 50%+1 of the population would vote for.  We mean that we like where we live, and where we live is a representative democracy which upholds personal liberties; a system which has brought us great freedom, wealth and security.

This may seem blindingly obvious.  But if it does, I'll set you a challenge.  Wait for the next time you hear someone saying "I thought this was supposed to be a democracy", and see if their use of that word fits the above.  Because it hardly ever does.

It usually means "There's been some sort of public campaign (often tabloid-fuelled, though not always) which appears to have received over 50% support in an opinion poll, and I don't care if it infringes on anyone's freedom, or that most people don't know what they're talking about.  Most people agree with me, so everyone else can shut up."

That may be a lot of things, but it isn't anyone's accurate definition of democracy.