Yes, the US Is a Republic. It’s Also a Democracy. Calm Down.

There exists among a certain subset of my fellow conservatives an irresistible itch, one they cannot help but scratch every time someone refers to the United States as a "democracy." Like moths to a flame, they pounce, not to correct a factual error so much as to deliver what they believe is a constitutional catechism. "We are not a democracy," they exc…