Thank you for your response!

Interesting, I personally believe 'say' is the far more relevant and realistic view of democracy for sure. However, I know a number of people - particularly those involved in party politics - who openly describe the democratic process as simply being a tool to enact policy that they agree with and oppose policy they do not. You could certainly argue then that this goes very much against the spirit of democracy, as they are only interested in the 'say' of others in as far as this say either supports or attacks their perspective.

Regardless, their view is that democracy involves the competition of ideas, with each person championing their own. As such, competition brings the inevitability that some will win and some will lose. The aim of the process, as a result, is to stay in the winning camp for as long as possible; the purpose is triumph, not deliberation: way, not say.