A form of democracy where people vote for representatives who then vote on the actual issues. The US has a representative democracy. By virtue of representatives not perfectly reflecting the views of their constituents, and by forming a hierarchy of power, this is a form of Democracy that is not [Anarchistic](/garden/anarchism/index.md).
Representative forms of government were once useful for their logistical simplifications, but now primarily serve as a way to limit the range of acceptable political opinions/options and to perpetuate the reign of those in power.