text: what is democracy? why cant we ask or say what we want in the west?how come people are starving, yet we waste food? this is 2006. democracy is a government run by the people.  democracy alone doesn't necessarily provide freedom.  after all, the people might not want everyone to have freedom.    as for starving people, that's not really a democracy thing.  you're now thinking more along the lines of socialism or communism which is more concerned with even distribution of resources.      btw, the united states isn't a democracy, it's a republic.