Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyff
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Those two don't exclude each other.
One category descibes the head of state. It's an elected president in a republic and a king or queen in a monarchy, it may be a doge, Führer, what ever you name it. As you correctly said the head of the US is an elected person. Therefore the US is a republic.
The other category is how government comes to power. It gets elected in a democracy, clings to power by supression in a dictatorship, is vested in the government by birth in a feudal system etc. Now with all it's known faults the government of the US is (still) elected by the people. Thereore the US is a democracy as well as a republic.
The UK is a good example for a monarchy being a democracy whereas Nazi Germany and Sovjet Russia are good examples for dictatorships being republics.
I hope this helps.
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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch" -B. Franklin
The best way I've ever heard it said was "the US is a Republic that functions with a Democracy". But then that is not fully accurate.
But best put, it simply a
Constitutional Republic.
Some
deep reading for my conservative friends here. Lefty libs please ignore for sake of your bliss.