For longer than I care to remember, people who should certainly know better have been using "democracy" as a synonym for freedom.
The United States was founded as a republic not a democracy. And this distinction is infinitely more than a "mere matter of semantics."
John Marshall, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835, observed, "Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos." Alexander Hamilton stated, categorically, "We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is neither founded in despotism or the extremes of democracy." Samuel Adams warned, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself."
Note also the word "democracy" does not appear in the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution.
To sum up, democracy is no more freedom than lynch-mob "justice" is due process.
Frank James Davis
Troy