we do live in a democracy, and its pretty insulting to those in the world fighting for basic human rights to suggest otherwise. but by its very nature democracy will first and foremost protect the rich and powerful as they have the loudest and most influential voices, witness the cuts.....sorry...."savings" that are the first to be implemented - benefits, social services, housing, libraries, youth training, homeless programmes, drug rehabs, etc i doubt any politician has ever had need of any of these services and their powerful friends and lobbyists see it as affecting the least likely to vote: the poor, the disenfranchised. witness the constant attacks on benefit cheats by mps, many of whom, lets not forget, fraudulently claimed many thousands more than benefit cheats have access to, even the non-fraudulent cases: multi-millionares claiming mortgage payments they dont need or paying family members tens of thousands for "research" but no, attack the desperate - it plays well to the crowds and helps us forget the real crimes

the fact that we all of us have the power to remove any government every 4 or 5 years is often overlooked in favour of who smiles best for the cameras

and yes, the EU is demonstrably un-democratic, but we do have a choice in whose policies we decide best represent us, the fact that most will lie to gain power is another matter, but if they lie boot them out and try someone else
