Being able to elect your rulers or not has absolutely 0 correlation to how free a country is. This is one of the most misunderstood political concepts in modernity. This was by design of course. The USA, a "democracy" (yes, I know it's a republic but a universal suffrage republic is just as bad as a democracy), pushed the propaganda that democracy = freedom. Then the USA goes to other countries, removes the leaders and implements a democracy (which the USA cheats to ensure their guy gets elected). The "public" doesn't criticize the despotism of the American government because since it's a democracy it means everyone is free and the government is good unlike the evil bad authoritarian dictators. The truth of the matter is that the USA is becoming more corrupt, tyrannical and hardly a "free country" compared to what it once was. Democracy is nothing but a mask to hide behind in hopes no one realizes just how bad the American government has become.

You can have an absolute monarchy where the people of the country itself are more free than the USA. It doesn't matter whether a country is a democracy or a dictatorship, all that matters is how the country operates given those two possible types of government and you can have tyrannical oppressive democracies as readily as you can have a benevolent dictatorship.

Being able to elect your rulers or not has absolutely 0 correlation to how free a country is. This is one of the most misunderstood political concepts in modernity. This was by design of course. The USA, a "democracy" (yes, I know it's a republic but a universal suffrage republic is just as bad as a democracy), pushed the propaganda that democracy = freedom. Then the USA goes to other countries, removes the leaders and implements a democracy (which the USA cheats to ensure their guy gets elected). The "public" doesn't criticize the despotism of the American government because since it's a democracy it means everyone is free and the government is good unlike the evil bad authoritarian dictators. The truth of the matter is that the USA is becoming more corrupt, tyrannical and hardly a "free country" compared to what it once was. Democracy is nothing but a mask to hide behind in hopes no one realizes just how bad the American government has become.

You can have an absolute monarchy where the people of the country itself are more free than the USA. It doesn't matter whether a country is a democracy or a dictatorship, all that matters is how the country operates given those two possible types of government and you can have tyrannical oppressive democracies as readily as you can a dictatorship.