What do you know, just like the democratic republic of korea...that explains a lot. http://www.korea-dpr.com/
Some of the hardline totalitarianism lived on in the East, even after the Iron Curtain fell. Sometimes the full name of such republics can be deceptive: having "people's" or "democratic" in the name of a country can, in some cases bear no relation with the concepts of democracy (neither "representative" nor "direct") that grew in the West. In fact, the phrase "People's Democratic Republic" was often synonymous with Marxist dictatorships during the Cold War. It also should be clear that many of these "Eastern" type of republics fall outside a definition of a republic that supposes control over who is in power by the people at large â unless it is accepted that the preference the people displays for their leader is in all cases authentic. Republics are often associated with democracy, which seems natural if one acknowledges the meaning of the expression from which the word "republic" derives. This association between "republic" and "democracy" is however far from a general understanding, even if acknowledging that there are several forms of democracy. We are democratic in that the people decide how they will be governed. We are a republic in that we elect representives to carry on the duties of the government.
There are many types of republics (at least 5 that I can think of)... Furthermore, what is the definition of democracy? There are diferent levels of democracy. Just because the constitution states that the power is in the people, does not necessarily mean that it will not be dominated by elites. Additionally, country's have different voting systems. This effects who has the power. So my answer is "No, not necessarily".
Here in the United States we have two dominating political parties representing 280 million diverse people. How representative is that? What makes a nation great? We certainly should not be applauded for our political system. I am not necessarily saying that a Parliamentary system is better, but to make a bold claim like we are the greatest nation in all history is kind of ridiculous. Also, we have too short of a history (several hundreds of years) so we can't compare ourselves to countries such as France and Great Britain.
Anyone who has a high school education knows the US has the longest continual form of government in the world...... Anyone who has a high school education knows the US has one of the largest IMMIGRATION problems in the world....... Anyone who has a high school education knows the rest of the world has a MIGRATION problem........ The FACTS kind of speak for themselves, don't they????? SteveD