Are we in a democracy?

Wikipedia defines democracy as;
Democracy is an egalitarian form of government in which all the citizens of a nation together determine public policy, the laws and the actions of their state, requiring that all citizens (meeting certain qualifications) have an equal opportunity to express their opinion.

This got me thinking about whether I live in a democratic country and according to this definition the answer has to be no.  I do not have an equal say in what happens, even the person that is supposed to represent me and my best interests isn't the person I voted to represent me, nor could I guarantee that they would have my best interests at heart.

Here's why
The things that are important to me and matter greatly to me don't effect most of the people who work in Westminster.  Most have never had the joy of getting electricity via a card that has to be topped up like a pay-as-you-go mobile, or had to make the choice between a new pair of shoes or filling the car with fuel.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the people in charge in Westminster have a different agenda, this is why there are new laws past to protect the already rich with lower inheritance tax and stamp duty e.t.c. and yet they can vote to close libraries and hospitals and post offices because there is another one only 10 miles up the road.  This is fine if you drive and can pay for the fuel as the politicians obviously can but for those that can't it may as well be a million miles up the road.

I recently read an interesting article in Dodgem Logic#2 (I know there are now 8 issues I am trying to catch up) that suggested a random selection of the real public should be chosen to govern for a limited time only before swapping, the reasoning is that the decision making politicians would be more inclined to make decisions that are beneficial to the general public as they would soon be rejoining the general public.  The only bad point in the article was that it held up Greece as the shining light of this principle and frankly the Greek government balls the whole lot up!  The article did raise the point that anarchy isn't a bad word, it simply means without leaders, i.e. everyone is seen as an equal.  This sounds a bit like the foundations of Marxism/communism, I know they are different but no one has succeeded in explaining the subtle differences to me yet so I view them as synonymous with each other and anyone who has read Animal Farm (George Orwell, not the porno) will immediately think "...but some are more equal than others".  There in lies the rub, it takes a great deal of self control to not want to post yourself as the leader, is it human nature, can it be avoided or are we doomed to always be a people led rather than equals?

My Utopia
My idea of a utopian land would be one in which everyone was free to think/do/say and learn whatever it is they wish to as long as it didn't interfere with someone else.  I think this was the general idea behind 1930's pursuit of happiness but I am not sure.  Anyway it would be nice if the goal of every human was to better themselves for humanity rather than the acquisition of wealth or power (vaguely remember Capt. Picard saying something similar).  It does sound a little far fetched at the moment, but doesn't it also sound good, and something worth aspiring to.  I sure as hell think so which is why I view a day in which I haven't learnt something as a day to regret and I don't want to live a life full of regret, who does?