Question

How democratic is America today? What criteria do we use to evaluate "decocratic-ness"? Does democracy still work in America?

Answer 1

America is one of the largest democracies in the world, and it still holds strong democratic values, today due to its strong allegiance to the freedom of people in different aspects, prevention of discrimination, equality of rights and governance by the people, elected by the citizens. In the USA, the executive orders issued by the president can be made null and void by the court of laws on the ground of merit, rights of people and other constitutional guidelines. For example, the orders of the president Mr. Donald Trump to ban the entry of travelers from selected nations in the USA was shot down by many courts in different states of the USA. It is one of the examples that shows the democratic values held in high regard in the USA.
The criteria used to evaluate the democratic-ness of the nation are as follows:
1.   The presence of the elected government (by people) with the authority to run the governance not only for the development, but also for the welfare
2.   Independence of the different functions such as executive, legislative and judiciary from each other and working well without overlapping with each other
3.   Distribution of power among different level of the government to prevent the misuse
4.   Rule of majority, with due care towards the minorities
On the basis of the above criteria, the USA has an elected government, distribution of power between the state and the federal government and independent branches of the government with each controlling the others. The biggest example is the partial or full revocation of executive order of the president by the judiciary on legal grounds as mentioned above. It shows that the democracy still works in the USA.