Democracy and Empowerment

The standard definition of Democracy, 'rule of the people', does not specify which people.  Thus, over the centuries, 'the people' has been delimited according to class, gender, race, etc.  Typically, that delimitation is effected by restricting the vote.  Still, even universal voting can fall short of an actualization of Democracy.  For, a voter can be less than fully engaged in the process, for example, when none of the options are desirable, or when one is inadequately informed about candidates or issues.  Ruling presupposes Empowerment, and in these cases, the possession of Power is deficient in some respect, e. g. not knowing what one is doing is being not in full control of one's behavior.  Furthermore, as has been previously discussed, Democracy is primarily a Political Genesis, not a Structure.  So, an alternative definition of it is: 'The society in which maximum Empowerment entails equality of Empowerment.