How to do it is the main objective, but it helps to know what it is.
Democracy means government b the populace at large. You and I are part of a populace.
In a democracy the power, authority, and doing is with and by the people. The people often being the citizens. As a member of the people, you have a lot of company.
Democracy entails the participation of ordinary citizens in their own government and is much more than just voting.
A dictionary tells us that democracy is government by the people, especially by the social class considered the ordinary people. By us that has been considered government by the citizens of the country. As a citizen of a country considered a democracy or a democratic republic you are not doing your duty as a citizen their by voting. That is not governing. Voting can be a part of governance. Holding a public office is another part. Having a fulsome say I who your armed forces kill is another part. Participation in the nominating process is an important part. Participation in overcite of governmental doings is a big part of active participation in your democracy. Democracy must be done by citizens.
Your dictionary may tell you that democracy is a mode of governance in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly. Government is done directly by the people. Perhaps you do not want the responsibility of governance. That's fair, but then it does not seem fair for you to say you want democracy. Of course there are degrees of democracy to choose from. As a citizen of a "free" country you are free to choose.
A democracy occurs when everyday citizens take responsibility for authority. They have the great advantage that they are many and that no one of them has to do everything.
Democracy seems proven to be too bothersome for most common people of America. But then even a republic seems to be too bothersome for many of them. Even the running of a republic calls for citizen responsibility.
It is very difficult for new citizens to know how to govern when they had grandparents did not teach their parents how to govern. Most schools, primary and secondary, have taught almost nothing about how to govern since a little after the second World War. The U.S. was becoming an empire and it is hard for an empire to be a democracy. It is difficult for an empire to be a republic. It is not easy for new citizens to govern themselves in such a situation. It is still possible. Our Constitution still allows for much self governance.
There is still much about governance online for those who would learn. There is information about citizen governance, social governance, republican governance, democratic governance, self governance, and more. It may be good to have in mind that those who choose to take no active part in their governance have taken a step toward and there is less use now for even a good slave.
My newer dictionary says that a democracy is based on democratic rule. It does not make the nature of democratic rule very clear. It may be something like fair and effective rule together. It could be rule be citizen activity wherein each citizen has equal opportunity to participate in rule. I like to use the word "governance" rather then the word "rule." This same newer dictionary also says that democracy is the principles of social equality and respect for the individual in a community. This book does little to clarify this. We can figure it out pretty well, even if we have to recheck the meanings of a few words.
Interesting stuff. There seems to be a lot more to be learned about democracy and how to do it. Well we have heard that "practice makes perfect." Well it does seem that practicing the doing of something does often seem to help us get better at that doing. We can practice some governance. We could practice some self governance together. We could practice governing ourselves. We could choose to practice democratic self governance together in any way we choose. If we wanted to we could to choose to look alternatives to democracy. We could choose to try find out why so many have been interested in democracy for so long. We could try to find out what the values they saw in it were. We could look for examples of well working democracies today.
The idea of democracy is active in the minds of many people of the USA from the very beginning. They chose to begin with a republic. Why? We could choose to find out how a republic is well done. We could learn something about how a government is kept going well. We could find out how to do a government well for the most of its members. We could find out more about what makes for good results from governance.
Could democracy in a group or organization for learning help that group be successful? Why has it been thought that a republic is more practical than a king? Why has it be considered that a democracy is better than one man rule or oligarchy? Why might self governance by yourself be an important aid to self care.
It seems that when we feel the need to learn something, there is plenty to learn. It is possible to learn together. Democracy might help us learn together better. Now, what are some of the main principles of democracy?
You could suggest a simple improvement for this little and help me correct my errors. You can use the "comments" section just below.
Thank you for reading.
Richard S