Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ianburrell 1122 days ago
Republic means not having a monarch. The US is a representative democracy. So is the United Kingdom, but they are a monarchy.
1 comments

No, that's not what a republic means. The U.S. is a republic. It is mentioned explicitly in the U.S. Constitution in Article 4, Section 4:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence."

As mentioned, the definitions of republics and democracies have blurred over the years as people often use them interchangeably. Republics have representatives. Just as the ancient Roman Republic did, with its famous Senate. Pure democracies run on majority rule and direct voting on laws.

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artIV-S4-1/AL...']

https://constitution.congress.gov/search/republic