>What I find frustrating with discussions like these is that many Americans seem content with the claim that America is a democracy without examining the reality, meaning the chance for improvement there is slim.

Well it's not just the Americans claiming that America is a democracy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index

Your idea of what the US is like seems to be a mosaic of viral clickbait loosely tethered to reality