Sadly, most people don't know what democracy is. As a result, they can be deceived into believing that so-called "representative democracy" is democracy. The electorate are told that representative democracy enables them to exercise "democratic oversight" and that this has something to do with democracy. What a deception—and perhaps a deliberate one.

Not only is representative democracy anti-democratic, its precepts are ignored by governments anyway. Indeed, there is no democracy to be found in any nation. Government, based upon the idea that representatives are empowered to make laws, are not democracies.

In this article we will discuss the problems inherent in representative democracy and explore what could be the best possible remedy: real democracy.

THE DEATH OF REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY
Democracy has nothing to do with voting to elect representatives. The reason citizens do not need to be represented by politicians is that in a democracy the people make all political decisions themselves.

Many national governments pretend to value democratic principles. They often assert the right to defend democracy in their country or to promote democracy in other countries. None of the governments that make such claims are democratic. Their pretensions often result in war.

As mentioned above, no nation-state currently practices democracy, but many of them foist representative democracy on their citizens. In a democracy, the people are the government. They protect themselves from their own potential errors and excesses through the checks and balances built into the rule of law, which is determined solely by the people.