submaleinzona
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The American Creed actually refers to the U.S. as a "democracy in a republic," and it's often referred to as a "representative democracy" as well. The U.S. is not a true democracy. It is a republic, so the video is accurate. I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with their revised version of the political spectrum either, but it is a fact that most governments of the world are oligarchies, rule by an elite few over the masses. Even in the United States, at the beginning, only a certain class of people could vote, so most people couldn't vote, and even today, now that we have universal suffrage, most people still don't vote.
The video is also accurate in that there are no guarantees with anything. Even our own republic has some weaknesses to it. The idea that we live according to the rule of law is a sound one and in keeping with a republican style government, but it still requires some group of people to oversee and hold stewardship over the enforcement and interpretation of laws. That's where it can get a bit dicey, as the reputation and honor of the legal profession can often be called into question. The average Joe often doesn't stand a chance against wealthy corporations which can hire the best lawyers and can work the bureaucracy like real pros. Even if they don't resort to bribery or other forms of corruption, they still have a distinct advantage over the average citizen. "One man, one vote" and "equal rights before the law" seem more like sayings than anything reflective of reality. It's not always like that, of course, and sometimes, the little guy might win his day in court. But there are still oligarchical underpinnings within our "nation of laws." It's almost impossible to avoid in any society.
But by the same token, the U.S. is a democracy in the sense that we, the voters, still have the real power to make changes, whether positive or negative. For example, it's technically possible for the people to elect people to the Senate, House of Representatives, and their own state legislatures to call a Constitutional Convention and rewrite the entire Constitution if they wish. We could literally vote ourselves into a dictatorship. That is technically possible, but not really plausible or reasonable to consider at this point. But then on the other hand, when so many people can't even name their own Senator or Representative or even be able to point out their own state on a map, it does get kind of scary when you consider that some of these people actually vote.
It's my understanding that during the Great Depression, there were a significant number of people who actually advocated that America become a dictatorship. It was a minority viewpoint, to be sure, but it wasn't considered so abnormal or unconscionable as such talk might be today. Still, it probably made it easier for people to accept certain wartime restrictions on civil liberties, as well as what our government was doing during the Cold War. People accepted the internment of Japanese-Americans and the widening of the scope of the FBI to include wiretapping and surveillance on anyone deemed "unfriendly" to the United States, even if they were U.S. citizens. As a result, men like J. Edgar Hoover became the most powerful men in Washington, more powerful than any member of Congress or even the President himself. Hoover wanted to head up both the FBI and the CIA, but, fortunately, Truman nixed that idea. We built up this big behemoth to fight World War 2 and then the Cold War, but it's a monster that got out of control. A lot of times, people didn't really know what was being done in their names until after the fact - sometimes years after the fact. Neither legality nor the will of the people seemed to matter much. That doesn't seem like a republic or a democracy, but rather, an oligarchy, as the video presented.
I'd like to think that things have changed since then. With the revelations that came out about Vietnam and Watergate, it seems that there are more watchful eyes on the government these days, which is a good thing.
What always gives me hope is that there are still many people out there who believe in freedom and know its value to our society. But admittedly, when more and more people are hungry and cold, their political values might tend to shift.
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Republic or Democracy? - 
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