Countries and their governments are never cut and dry. If we’re getting technical (which I hope we are) then the United States of America is a presidential, constitutional representative democratic-republic that permanently federates and holds legal supremacy over a collection of similarly stylized democratic-republic states (along with other colonies, territories, and possessions). All of this is technically correct, but it isvery hard to fit on a bumper sticker unlike the flashy fascist conservative think tank sound bite of “wE’rE a RePuBLiC nOt A dEmOcRaCy.”