[dragonwriter]

> The US government 1776-1865 is obviously democratic

Its obviously aristocratic republican with a quite open hostility to democracy at the beginning of that period, evolving over time in a rather unequal way in different parts of the union toward democracy (in both ideals and substance, though not in lockstep between the two.)

[throwaway09223]

I've already addressed this comment, see above regarding the No True Scotsman fallacy.