I would not say semantics, but rather an important concept that many people intentionally misuse in the public sphere - and by extension many people unintentionally misuse.

The differentiation between your ability to maintain freedom of speech - or any other right - if 50.1% of voters decide it is an unneeded freedom and govt can infringe it VS 75% of voters combined with 75% of regional legislatures is quite an important differentiation.

The talking heads like to talk a lot about "the will of the people". Great lengths are gone to to try and establish in the public mind that

1) The "majority" feel X should be done
2) That the fact that a "majority" wills it, means it is just

Partisan politics have nothing to do with this, the GOP under Bush was every bit as guilty as the Dems under Obama.

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I would dispute that many of those countries work "well" , and liberty would certainly be the metric I would use. Its a complex issue though ill-suited to either one of us trying to break down into one liners.

I think you will find plenty of examples of mob rule in the areas you mentioned. Plenty of cases where the govt does whatever it wants, especially if you are a minority. That minority can mean different things , depending on the actual instance you are referring to - political, ethnic, geographic.

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Bahrains revolts were forcibly suppressed by the Saudis using our weapons, with our satellite photos and intel. Heck, the Sauds themselves are a case study. In Libya we sent planes and drones. In Bahrain our regional enforcer marched in to support the regime. Now, seeing as we have military facilities present I can see why we would act the way we did. But it does not change the fact that our espoused principles and our actions do not match.

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I think a case could be made that US behavior has changed to a degree. Though I think an equally strong case could be made that we have a long ways to go.

For who could be free when every other man's humour might domineer over him? - John Locke (2nd Treatise, sect 57)