by George B Nichols

Created on: January 21, 2012   Last Updated: January 22, 2012

Forgive me for starting with the boring, technical details, because the question of whether we in the US are becoming more of a republic than a democracy has two answers: The technical one, which is no, and the practical one, which depends entirely on your perspective.

Definitions of “republic” and “democracy” are quite similar. For example, Dictionary.com (the source of the two previous links) says that supreme power ultimately rests with the people. The difference is with the exercise of that power. In a republic, it emphatically is exercised through representatives. In a democracy, it may be exercised through representatives or it may be exercised directly. Dictionary.com’s definition for democracy specifically cites the US government as an example of a democracy.

When we recite the Pledge of Allegiance, we pledge allegiance not only to the flag, but “to the Republic for which it stands[.]” This is not just poetic license.  Since the establishment of the current US government, this nation has been a republic. From a technical standpoint, that broad categorization has not changed, because “supreme power is [and always has been] exercised by elected officers and representatives.” The closest thing there has been to change was in the manner in which our Senators are chosen. Originally, Senators were chosen by their state’s legislature. The 17th Amendment changed that to direct election. The change in the selection manner to direct from indirect did not make the US Government any less of a republic.

There may be no stronger proof that we don’t live in a democracy than the Presidential election of 2000. Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote, but then Governor George Bush won in the Electoral College and became President Bush.

“Democracy” is, I suspect, a more attractive term for the form of government. I grew up in a strongly Republican home. In 1968, when I was a teenager, my mother was a delegate to the Republican nominating convention in Miami.  Our family bought its first color TV so we could see her, if she should happen to catch the camera’s eye. This was in the days of live, gavel to gavel coverage of the conventions on the national networks. That same TV showed us the appalling spectacle of the other party’s convention in Chicago.

One small fact that sticks out in my mind is

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