The word democracy is derived from two Greek words: demos, meaning "the people," and kratos, meaning, "rule." A democracy is a way of governing in which the whole body of citizens takes charge of its own affairs. As citizens of towns, cities, states, provinces, and nations, the people are the sovereigns, the source of power. Democracy means that they can freely make the decisions about what is best for them: what policies to adopt and what taxes to pay. An authoritarian government is a government where they tell people what to do and expect the people to obey. This obedience is usually justified in the name of some higher val