The US convinced people that "democracy" just means symbolic rights like voting without concrete rights like right to not be poor and that the US should export its "democracy" to "authoritatian" nations even though the US is the most undemocratic authoritarian place in the world.

The US equates "democracy" to symbolic rights like freedom of speech, access to "uncensored" privatized news & social media (which are very censored), and elections, while calling nations that deliver actual tangible rights & improvements to their people's lives "authoritarian."

The reason the West supports "democracy movements" in other countries is because Westerners think symbolic rights like freedom of speech & voting—which in practice don't exist—equal "democracy" & that perceived lack of these empty "rights" in nations equals "authoritarianism."

Westerners need to reorient how they define "democracy." Democracy doesn't mean being able to access privatized media & news or having symbolic "rights" like freedom of speech/voting/property. It means a governance system that is truly responsive to its people's material needs.

Socialist countries like China, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos, etc. view rights in terms of delivering concrete rights like right to housing, to education, to not be poor. Thats why these countries have leaped in quality of life while far richer "democratic" nations have extreme poverty.