So what’s the real reason Republicans say we’re not a democracy, we’re a republic?

My view is they’re not mutually exclusive, we’re both. Probably looking for replies from progressives here, because it seems like I’ve heard or read lots of very different Republican explanations and I can’t remember any of them, it just seems like they were all pedantic bullshit. There must be some underlying issue that’s important to them. My guess is roughly that “democracy” carries the connotation that [i]everyone[/i] gets to vote, whereas in a republic maybe it could be considered acceptable to disenfranchise certain people deemed illegitimate (such as minorities and poor because they didn’t show an ID), but I don’t feel very confident in that hypothesis.

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hippyjoe1955 · 61-69, M

How shall one determine the majority? Simple one person one vote works very well in a small enough region or a simple question. However as is noted often that a small region with a large population can reflect its concerns onto a large area with fewer people that don't have the same issues. Say traffic jams in NYC causing the population to decree no cars everywhere including say Montana. How does a nation prevent that? The US republic has three elected roles. The House, the Senate and the Executive. The House representatives are elected by popular vote in a district. The Senate is elected by popular vote in a state. The executive is elected by popular vote by county and by state. The three different electoral methods provide a fair and balanced result. In Canada the election is by popular vote by riding only. The senate is appointed and does not represent the provinces equally. The PM (executive) is the leader of the party that wins the most seats and his/her selection as leader is by popular vote within the political party. The average voter in Canada has no say in the Senate or the executive and all kinds of corruption results. The present PM has been proven to have run afoul of the conflict of interest and likely broke the law regarding obstruction of justice. Sadly he is virtual dictator and there is no means of firing him before the next election. Even then he can be re-elected if the people vote for the party he leads and the party does not remove him as their leader. The US has a vastly superior electoral system even though it is seriously flawed.