Mrs. Elizabeth Powel asked Benjamin Franklin the question. What do we have, a republic or a monarchy? Franklin answered, "A republic if you can keep it." Probably historically true.  In a republic, the power to govern is held by the people or their elected representatives. By consent. We have checks and balances for those representatives, and we have a rule of law. That theory was meant to keep an oppressive government at bay. To keep them from acquiring too much power In a democracy, the people directly make every decision. There are no representatives. Democracies often devolve into mob rule democracies. Like the one we have now. A republic is meant to protect the minority from the oppression of the majority. A rule of law is what keeps it civil. A minority member's interests are protected. Until the mob takes over. Now we can debate who, what, when, and how we have lost our republic. We can even debate whether we still have one or not. On paper, we might have a republ