thewayne | Scott 'Dilbert' Adams commenting on the democracy/oligarchy study

He's right, the United States was not founded as, and never really was, a true democracy. We were founded as a Republic, governed by laws passed by elected legislators, and as a Federation, a collection of states. So maybe describing ourselves as a Democratic Republic would be a better practice. Adams points out that the Founding Fathers thought that wealthy land owners would be the ones appointed/elected to govern as they were the best educated. Now that education is roughly democratized, that equation has changed a bit, but still mostly holds true.

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/oh_my_god_i_live_in_an_oligarchy/