Looks a little like Jerry Springer! Whenever I hear America referred to as a "democracy", I immediately know that the speaker is uneducated. Our founders deliberately spoke against democracy, as it inevitably leads to mob rule and abuse of the minorities. That is why they instituted a republic with three branches supposedly opposed to each other.
We have been told for decades now that the United States is a democracy. Those who would control the future of the world want us to believe that the United States was founded as a democracy. Those who have controlled our government for most of the past few decades have continuously told us that our military is fighting to bring democracy to the world and that our state department advocates for worldwide democracy. The reason they do that is that democracy is the enemy of our republic. In a democracy today, those who can afford the best advertising campaign are the ones with the power.
Yes, and if you notice when we "set up a government" such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, we don't use a Presidential form--we use a Parliamentary form instead. As far as I know, every Presidential government, such as most of Latin America , the Philippines, etc. have all been dictatorships at some time...except the U.S. so far, most (IMHO) due to the first and second amendments. A separate Executive is a dangerous thing; Parliaments have the executive embedded within the Legislature--much safer and slower. Compare Churchill's execution of WWII with that of Roosevelt.