eli5: What is a Republic? As in, the United States is a Republic?

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I’m almost 50. I said the pledge of allegiance every day. Our education system is so messed up that they didn’t bother to explain what it meant.

Hell, I’m old enough that I also sang ‘Zippity Doo Dah ‘ every day also. Plus, we had the strap in school. Teachers and principals taking their anger out on 10 years olds. That was weird.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

A republic means that there is no single symbolic or real owner of the state. It’s in opposition with monarchy in which there is a single symbolic or real owner of the state, the Monarch.

The US is a republic. Most countries are a republic nowadays. A few exceptions are in Northern Europe, Arabic Peninsula, the British Commonwealth, and a few other countries.

Republic doesn’t mean democracy. Democracy-dictatorship is a spectrum fully independent on the monarchy-republuc dichotomy.

Republic doesn’t mean you have representatives. It can be direct democracy, indirect democracy or pure dictatorship or hybrid.

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