Define democracy and address the following in 200 to 300 words: What does American democracy mean to you as an individual? What are some of the criticisms of this style of government?

Answer 1

Notice the wording here: "What does American democracy mean to you as an individual?" None of us here can answer this for you. Only you can do that.

Start with the basic definition of the term "democracy."
http://www.answers.com/democracy
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/democracy

Then read some of these, especially Plato's criticism:
http://www.google.com/search?q=criticisms+of+democracy&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&client=firefox-a&rlz=1R1GGGL_en___US357

Now ... what do you think?