The United States is both a republic and a constitutionally limited democracy. The qualifier "constitutionally limited" is essential, of course. The idea is that there are guaranteed rights which no law can infringe upon, but within the limits required by respect for those rights, the people and their representatives can make rules for how society should be run.

It is true that, in the earliest days of the nation, the word "democracy" was frowned on by many. The prospect of "tyranny of the majority" was a real concern, and it still is. Nevertheless, Thomas Jefferson's party called itself the "Democratic-Republicans". It was, of course, the party that supported a weaker federal government, Alexander Hamiltion's Federalists being the party that supported a stronger one.

Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans won the day against the Federalists, who soon disappeared as a party. For a time there was another party known as the Whigs, but it disappeared too. By the eve of the Civil War, our present two-party system was in place: the Democrats (formerly the Democratic-Republicans) and the Republicans. The names show that the concepts of Democracy and Republic have been vying for dominance ever since, certainly a lot longer than the last 25 or 30 years.

World War I was fought to "make the world safe for democracy", or at least that is what was proclaimed. Definitely we must remember that unlimited democracy leads to tyranny. But a lack of democracy, a lack of input by the people into the running of the government, is a sure road to tyranny as well. Plato's "Republic" was in fact a dictatorship. We need to keep democracy as a vital element in the running of the nation, but also remember that it can only operate safely within the strict limits of the Constitution, which guarantees that basic rights cannot be voted away.