[gnaritas]

> No, we have a republic. Fundamentally different animal.

No it's not, and it's really sad and tiring such a simple concept escapes so many people. Please take a course in government and learn the difference between these things you're conflating. Republics don't have to have constitutions and constitutional governments aren't necessarily republics. Republics can be democracies or not, ours is, not all are.

Our minority rights are protected because we're a constitutional government who has protections for those things; that has nothing to do with our being a republic.