Fair enough, but Dan was (I assume) using the term "democracy" in its colloquial sense.
...just as is done and explained by many publications, examples of which are below (after a quick google search):
By popular usage, however, the word "democracy" come to mean a form of government in which the government derives its power from the people and is accountable to them for the use of that power. In this sense the United States might accurately be called a democracy.
"In everyday speech, people praise democracy as the most just form of government. What they mean by “democracy” is a regime in which free elections regularly take place and a government that protects the rights of all. Understood this way, America is a democracy, or to be more precise, a democratic republic."