Democracy, like communism, like capitalism, and like many other theories that seem so sound, seem so solid, is a paper standard, and cannot exist in its purest form.
The theory of democracy is, of course, one man, one vote. The idea that you have the control over your political destiny. And it sounds good in theory, and in fact, may work in small groups where the goals are common and the group fairly cohesive. But it does not work well on a larger plane because of the reality of politics.
In many areas, it is not uncommon to find a majority or a minority view. The answer in a democracy is, of course, to follow the majority view. But in some cases, the majority view is not, in fact a democracy, and can lead to the tyranny of the majority as they use their collective will to wipe out the voices of dissent that they find among the minority. This is a lesson our country learned painfully as we struggled against Jim Crow in the south and against the silencing of women by denying them the vote. The minority does not get to express their view as the political pressure of the majority pushes them to an internal exile.
When one person is denied the vote, however, a democracy ceases to be a democracy.
As our country came of age, our leaders realized this, and, gradually, worked to fix the system. But in a twisted paradox worthy of the Joseph Heller novel whose name has become synonymous with such paradoxes, the very actions they took to preserve democracy in fact destroyed democracy. Because, you see, no longer was the majority view capable (in theory, at least) of silencing the voice of the minority. The minority, thus empowered, could then broadcast their views and gain popular support to obtain a majority.
The truth is, to even consider the success of a democratically based government, the government must in fact be founded upon the rights of the individual. Our founding fathers realized this, and gave us the Bill of Rights, a series of amendments that I personally consider to be some of the most inspired pieces of legislation. Those rights prevent (again, in theory, at least) the actions most common in destroying the voice of the minority from being used to preserve their political influence. No longer could you seize someone's land and drive them out of the realm so that their unpopular views would no longer be a nuisance. No longer could you imprison someone for simply stating a political view that differed with your own. No longer could you quarter your soldiers in the neighborhoods of dissident factions and thus enact a de facto martial law. No longer could you use the persuasive power of the pulpit to demand that your political will was God's will and that noncompliance carried with it not the burden of civil or criminal penalties, but eternal damnation.
But the Bill of Rights made democracy itself impossible because they gave a disproportionate amount of power to the minority by limiting the power of the majority. By creating a Republic, the founding fathers basically ensured that the individual had more power than the group because they possessed a set of rights that effectively could trump certain democratic decisions.
Pure democracy in reality is the most vile form of tyranny that can be foisted on a community, as those who do not conform to the standards of society are left outcast, broken, and often homeless or penniless because of the power of the majority. But the fixes to check the tyrranical power of democracy are, themselves destructive.