A republic, if you can keep it.

In my wack job right wing extremest days I thought I knew what that statement attributed to Ben Franklin meant. I often wondered why commie countries were permitted to call themselves, "republics."

Just read in "Roots Of Western Culture," Herman Dooyeweerd, (out of print), that "The word Republic indicates nothing whatsoever about the form of government. It merely signifies that the state is a public rather than a private institution." My "Webster's Seventh Collegiate Dictionary" says about the same thing.

Wiki states, "A republic is a state or country that is not led by an hereditary monarch but in which the people (or at least a part of its people) have an impact on its government. The term republic can also refer to the state or country that uses the republican system. The word originates from the Latin term res publica."

My point, when you right wingers insist that the US is a democratic republic, not a democracy, you are fooling yourselves just as old Ben has fooled you for the last 200 years.