Say it with me until it really feels natural: The U.S. is a democracy. (But don't take it from me. See comments.)

The U.S. is a democracy. But don't take it from me. Take it from USCIS, which publishes a 9-page pamphlet, written in plain English, to acquaint immigrants and newly-naturalized citizens with our system of government. I have posted page 1 above, which references the word "democracy" 4 times.

https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/USCIS/files/Government_and_You_handouts.pdf?

And here's a link to a longer, 33-page guide which defines the U.S. as a "representative democracy" and includes the word "democracy" 13 times.

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office%20of%20Citizenship/Citizenship%20Resource%20Center%20Site/Publications/PDFs/M-638_red.pdf

The 33-page guide also includes the word "republican" or "republic" 11 times.

How is that possible?!?!?! You might ask. Are the "Leftist," bureaucratic authors of this guide confused and ignorant of civics?

Or... Could it simply be that "democracy" and "republic" are not exclusive terms?

Side-note: Of those 11 usages of the word "Republic" in the 33-page guide, 6 are in direct reference to either the Democratic-Republican Party of early U.S. History, or the modern Republican Party. (Not to the fact that America is a republic, although it is also that, as well.)

And 1 of those 11 references is to the USSR: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!

Last thing I'll post on this. This is 84 of a 116 page guide titled "Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants," also published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Note its definition of "representative democracy." And this guide, despite its increased length, actually does not use the word "republic" at all.

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/M-618.pdf

The United States is a democracy.

Conservatives will tell you that democracy equals "mob rule," or whatever. They are operating from a narrow definition of democracy and perhaps have "direct democracy" of the kind practiced by ancient Athens in mind. Indeed, there are many kinds of adjectives you could use to qualify the word "democracy," and each means something a little bit different.

But no. The broader definition of "democracy" encompasses representative systems of government of the kind we and many other countries have today.

The U.S. is a democracy. But don't take it from me. Take it from the dictionary.