oh look, another red state has no water

[Kyff]

Originally Posted by Daywolf [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[...] I recognize that the US is not a democracy, but a Republic. [...]

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.