We have a democracy in name only. We elect people who rubber stamp laws that have been written by lobbyists.
We elect people from a pool of people many of who are running only because of donations from rich people and organisations with agendas, or that they are rich enough themselves and move in certain circles.
If we accept your definition, then "democracy" isn't a form of government; it's an event that occurs every 4-5 years. In between polls, "citizens" have little input into decisions. With that definition, almost every government in the world is "democratic" - most of them have elected presidents. Just that they were elected 40 years ago, or they fix the elections.
Even the use of the word "citizen" is open to question; are US felons citizens? Why is it permissible to deny citizen-felons a vote?
This has nothing to do with how much power the government has or wants over its citizens. As long as they can vote on different representatives, I don't see a problem for "democracy". I do however see a problem with privacy and freedom, or like you say, a downward trend of civil rights.