And then somebody else said:
*sigh*A republic is a _type_ of democracy. It's an "indirect" or "representative" democracy. And if I had a nickel for every time I've explained that, I'd be farting through silk underwear.
I see this thing about a republic not being a democracy a lot on Usenet, far too often for it to be a coincidence. Apparently what they teach kids about this in high school civics class changed at some point after I took civics in the Seventies.
It probably reflects the increasing leftward shift of the teaching profession, and given the positive associations that most people have for democrcy, is likely a subtle attempt to cast the United States in a bad light.
Geoff