Ah, America.

Land of the free and home of the brave.

A country where people complain about the following: #FirstWorldProblems

Slow Wi-Fi, Instagram Likes, Waking Up On a Monday Morning, Waking up in general, A "Failing" Education System, Hangovers, Grammatical Errors, Taxes, Things That Other Countries Have That America Does Not Have, Advertisements, Reality TV, Losing The TV Remote, Having A Troll Doll As Future President, Made in China Products, and of course, People Who Complain About Things

You know the list goes on, but the above is a pretty good summary. With that being said, whether your daily lives consist of taking that perfect selfie and paying off student loans, always remember one thing:

America is, has been, and always will be the greatest country on planet earth. Not because of our GDP or technological innovations, but because of a nine letter word.

D-E-M-O-C-R-A-C-Y.

Democracy is the reason why America is great, because America is the world's most democratic country. As an American, it's one thing to take democracy for granted, but a different and rather problematic thing to not even know what democracy is.

Sadly, the unfamiliarity with democracy is a growing trend. But I will say that I too apparently was misinformed about democracy until I took AP Government my senior year of high school. Here are some common misconceptions about democracy:

1. The founding fathers wanted a democracy

2. Our government does what the people want

3. Democracy is a constitutional right

For starters, just like pure communism, pure democracy does not exist. Our founding fathers straight up feared a democracy. And as far as constitutional rights go, let me add that both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution do not mention the word democracy at all.

Greek origins suggests that democracy comes from the two words "demos" (the people) and "Kratia" (authority), defining democracy as power to the people. So what would happen if America really did give power to the people?

I think you already know the answer.

You know what would happen if the government did what the people wanted. Chuck Bass would be president and nobody except Donald Trump and the Kardashians would pay taxes.

There is a specific reason why the framers feared a democracy. A democracy allows citizens to create their own laws. The difficulty with doing this is that in order for a law to then be created, a simple majority would be needed. If most of the people for example were homophobic, gay marriage would cease to exist. If most of the people were anti-immigration, we would no longer be a "melting pot." It's no wonder why Thomas Jefferson said, "A democracy is nothing more than a mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49."

This is the problem with having a direct democracy. Laws would reflect what the majority wanted without giving say to what the minority wanted. The solution?

A representative democracy otherwise known as a republic. We don't have one government. We have state, local and federal agencies, which allow for special interests to be represented. We allow the people who we elect into office make the laws for us. Remember the Pledge of Allegiance?

"And to the republic for which we stand."

Yes, in some ways a democracy and republic are synonymous. Even though we don't exactly do what the people want, we still give some power to the people. We have fair elections open to our citizens willing and able to vote. We are by the people, for the people.

We are the world's most democratic country.

We are America.