The form of a democracy has to be triadic. With three branches, a multiplicity of people can, in fact, govern themselves. It may not be easy, but its funtionally correct. The dilemma that arises in the simple relation between the One and the Many is monitored by a third factor. Of course, in the form of the One and the Many, this factor ( the Judicial)is not present, and the result is that its structure opens the door to dictatorships, autocracy, monarchy, plutocracy, and many other forms of despotic governments. They don't have to be despotic, but they usually are. Whereas,the fundamental part of the triadic form is the bottom of the triad or the Many people. The Top of the triadic form is the One or the President, Ruler, or simply the Government. Of course, the difference in the two forms is that in the triadic form, the top is elected by the people, whereas in the other forms the ruler gets there by some kind of subterfuge. In monarchy; it was "The Divine Right of Kings", or simply "God", in plutocracy; its "the priviledged few", in dictatorship; its some kind of force. But, we still have to be careful, because the triadic form can be manipulated in such a way that the result of an election can also be the result of a subterfuge. Today, its a value called, MONEY! The groping for money is universal.Since money has become an "exchange mode", its accumulation is feverishly persued. It can buy anything, even elections. The more money a campaign has ,the more people it can reach. It then uses persuasive strategy,(the logic of advertising)to promise the people whatever they desire. Democracy is replaced by "money". The exchange mode of money is 'neutral', i.e. it can be used for bad or good. Its also a 'fictional' thing. In and of itself, its a worthless thing. Nevertheless, its important.If it could only be used for good. Instead, a fiction (money) is used to "bail out" ( when applied to people, its called "welfare")another legal fiction, the corporation, so that these corporations can " use their right of free speech" (they don't talk!) to contribute to their favorite candidate. What kind of game are we playing? We've created a universe of fictions, where,unfortunately, we are dependent on some of them. Is " real Democracy really dead "? If the people at the bottom don't do anything about it, that's where we're going. Real democracy is at the bottom. If government becomes more'fictional', it's policies will never 'reach' the bottom.