It's not democracy purely, no, but then there is the issue of "do the people of the nation actually know what's right?" For instance, there are a great many people who think that the US government should provide jobs for everyone who doesn't have one. They think that the 16,000 people that GM is laying off somehow is the fault of President Bush. I believe it would be a great tragedy to put the economic decisions of this country in these millions of people's hands. This opens up many new problems, but I think that the US's original way of doing things was best when people elected learned individuals who actually stood for what their constituents believed. Oh well...