I the strictest sense of these terms, a democracy is a system of government in which the people all vote on everything that has to do with governing. All laws and other major decisions require a vote of the people to pass. This type of government has only ever been tried on relatively small scales and has never really worked because the people as a whole don't have the time to really study the issues along with doing all the other things that they have to do just to make a living. A republic is a form of government in which the people "hire" individuals make the decision and pass the laws that society needs to function. In this form of government, certain individuals decide that they want to participate in governing. These individuals ask for the approval of the people to implement their ideas (i.e. they campaign). The people then choose between all of the candidates and decide who they want to hire (i.e. they vote). Whomever wins then dedicates the time to trying to implement their policies and studying new issues that may arise. Depending the the position, this could be a full-time job. Based on these descriptions it should be obvious that the United States is a republic.

There is not necessarily a difference. A republic government is democratic by default. Democracy refers to a system where the people decide what is happening. This can be direct decisions, like with a referendum, or it can be a representative democracy, where the people elect 'experts' who represent them. Most states have some kind of representative democracy, where the people elect a leader and/or parliament. Countries like Switzerland also have some direct democracy, where you can initiate a referendum on an issue when you have collected enough signatures of supporters. A republic is a kind of state that is governed by an elected president. Other alternatives are monarchies or dictatorship. Also monarchies can be democratic, since the monarch (king/queen) usually has no political power, and performs more or less a ceremonial function. Every law has to be signed by the monarch, but the monarch has to follow the verdict of the parliament. Examples of democratic monarchies are the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, or Belgium.

Lately, very little. And less and less every election it seems.

Republican and a Democrat Republican is spelled with 1-r 1-e 1-p 1-u 1-b 1-L 1-i 1-c 1-a 1-n while Democrat is spelled with 1-d 1-e 1-m 1-o 1-c 1-r 1-a 1-t

Recently, it seems that after 8 years of one president, the party of the president becomes fractured. (Clinton/Bush) We can see that the Republican party has more religiously minded people than Democrats. However, the country is based on "Freedome of Religion" and not one dominating all others.

Democrats use the color Blue. Republikans use the color Red So Dems are the Crips & Reps are the Bloods in terms of gang affiliation. I mispelled a word here because AB wanted to underline republikans in double blue so in order to maintain the integrity of the question, I could not allow that.

When the Democrats are in power,the country is better financially,not at war,and things are fine.When the Republicans are in power the country is in a shambles.Look at history and see it is true.

Not much, really. I suppose some people and organizations give money to one more than the other. Usually, individuals give more to Dems, corporations give more to Repubs...but major corps give to both, just to hedge their bets. There is no real difference...because everybody is afraid to say something strong for fear of offending too many people.

A Democrat is simply a Republican who hasn't been chit on yet..

Republican minus democrat equals an independant.

It is sad to find out just how many people do not know this answer, but for all of you striving to learn, here it is. the (2) parties are seperate by one one thing (Social) standing. Republican's are more traditional in views were as, Democrates are more liberal and social. At the end of the day, both parties are stiving to reach the same economic goals! They's just like to do them with out compromising there social lifestyles. Today, the questions are not as they were 50-100 yrs ago, in that it was socially unacceptable for a woman or a brown person to run for office let alone win. Sooo ther is compromise, (even thought, out 2008 minorities are Democrates) yet,many social issues still plague the politics. F/Y/I, Democrates are the majority in the united states offices... So you see, it's mostly social factors to consider in you efforts to choose a side. Happy hunting!!