Is Democracy the Best Form of Government?

“Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.”(Abraham Lincoln).Do you believe that democracy is the best form of government? To what extent? Democracy states that every citizen in a given society has as much power in its resolutions as any other and the decisions concerning the individuals in it must be performed equally, by all; be it directly or through freely elected representatives.

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." – Sir W. Churchill

So many political systems have been tried and virtually failed because they're not structured properly and do not have the best interests of the people in mind. It is possible; however, that Democracy does not work in every situation or for everyone. What comes to mind are tribal areas where all they've ever known is their Chieftain and are happy to live within those parameters. These are areas that bring no industry to the world at large and do not need our way of life to be successful! This, of course, cannot be the case in larger areas that do produce some of the world’s necessities.

“We sometimes hear that democracy stands in the way of economic progress. This is not a new argument. Particularly in times of change and economic uncertainty, some will say that it is easier to take a shortcut to development by trading away the right of human beings for the power of the state. But your achievements demonstrate that democracy and development reinforce one another.” – President Obama

"There is no state with a democracy except Libya on the whole planet,"- Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

A lot of people in the Middle East are rising up to overthrow autocratic governments and in some cases, as in Libya, sacrificing their lives to do so. Struggles for power have begun, struggles involving the military, religious factions, wealth, and the lifeblood of much of the region -- oil. “Prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty. Because there are aspirations that human beings share -- the liberty of knowing that your leader is accountable to you, and that you won’t be locked up for disagreeing with them; the opportunity to get an education and to be able to work with dignity; the freedom to practice your faith without fear or restriction. Those are universal values that must be observed everywhere. Freedom cannot mean replacing the strong hand of a colonizer with a strongman of your own.”- President Obama.

"Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." -Thomas Jefferson

I think the statement is a bit on the radical side but I still think he makes a very good point.
How can this be the land of the free when a majority is oppressing the minority? Democracy is defined as the people being the rulers, i.e. the majority decides everything. The founding fathers understood that democracy is simply another form of tyranny. “Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.” - Plato

“Of course, democracy is messy. Not everyone likes the results of every election. You go through your ups and downs. But the journey is worthwhile, and it goes beyond casting a ballot. It takes strong institutions to check the power -- the concentration of power. It takes open markets to allow individuals to thrive. It takes a free press and an independent justice system to root out abuses and excess, and to insist on accountability. It takes open society and active citizens to reject inequality and injustice.” – President Obama

Personally, I think that democracy is not a perfect system, it's the best compared to other forms of government, since power is given to the public. Another reason why it's said to be the best form of government is that democracy is a system how people can live happily, since the interest of the people is better than the one of the state, better known as the 'Common Good'.