You can’t spend much time on social media these days without coming across the assertion that “The US isn’t a democracy! It’s a republic!” I can’t even count the number of times I’ve read this statement on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. I mean, I’ve lost count just this week. It’s a favourite line amongst conservatives and reactionaries, used mainly in the defence of the Electoral College. But is it accurate? Well, no. Not exactly. While the United States is most definitely a republic, that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t a democracy.
First, let’s go through all of the main forms of government that humanity has tried up to this point in our existence. We will find ours by process of elimination.
Monarchy
This one is pretty self-explanatory. A monarchy has a monarch of some kind, be it a king, queen, sultan, emperor, etc. It’s usually a hereditary role, although not always. New Roman emperors weren’t always related by blood to the previous one. The United States hasn’t had a monarch since our colonial days, so this one is definitely out.
Oligarchy
An oligarchy is government by the few, usually by a small group that exercises control for corrupt or selfish reasons. The Russian Federation under President Vladimir Putin and the Russian oligarchs are pretty commonly considered to be a textbook oligarchy. Is the United States one though? Well, not officially. It could be reasonably debated whether or not…
