Are we a Democracy or a Republic? It seems that read somewhere in his book, "Democracy in America," that we are a Democracy with aspects of an Aristocracy and a Republic. Am I accurate in my conclusion of us being governed by officials who are either directly or indirectly by the people and thus we are by that definition a Democracy?
No, if you live in the United States, you live in a representative democracy. A republic is defined as “a political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them”. This is, of course true. None-the-less, today, all citizens are entitled to vote, as long as they're eighteen or older. In a republic, you're talking about those who are entitled, meaning entitlement went beyond citizenship. For example, women could not vote, African Americans could not vote, ect..
