Adela........I basically agree........You wrote an excellent post. Here's some of my take:
What is a Democracy?
The dictionary definition of democracy is: "1a: government by the people; especially: rule of the majority 1b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections."
Th word democracy literally means a government by or of the people. The distinct characteristic is the rule of majority. Which means that an individual, or minority group, has no protection against the unlimited power of the majority. Stated differently: individual, and minority, rights and freedoms are not protected in a democracy.
Democracy can be destructive to liberty and freedom because laws are created by the current feelings and sentiments of the majority.
What is a Republic?
The dictionary definition of republic is: "1a: a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president 1b: a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law."
Here's a bit of evidence of our republic foundation: 1) every state has two senators, regardless of how many people are in the state, and 2) a jury cannot convict a person unless all of the members agree to the defendant's guilt – a unanimous decision. If the US were a democratic nation, then each state would have a certain number of senators based on its population, and it would only take 7 members of a jury to make a conviction. Another indicator of our republic is the Electoral College.
The word republic literally means everybody's thing or interest—not the majority. In essence, a republic is the rule of law, or of common law, which is certain and unchangeable. The rule of law, created by God, is what was is considered as right or wrong—also described as common sense. We know in our heart what is right and wrong—things like murder and theft—we don't need those things explained to us. We all agree that the right to speak (freedom of speech) should still be a right 10,000 years from now. Sadly, however, we may be losing that right .
The Difference
Democracy: the rules and decisions are defined by the majority, which are subject to change over time, based on the majority's current feelings and sentiments.
Republic: the rules are defined by the rule of law—common sense—and can be applied to everyone without abridging anyone's rights, and do not change over time.
The key point here, in my opinion, is that in a democracy the 'feelings' of a majority can be manipulated to create policy. In a Republic, each person has natural, God-given rights. The natural rights of the minority are protected by the Bill of Rights from majority 'mob rule'.
Conclusion:
Our founding fathers obviously knew the inherent evils of a democracy: It limits the rights and freedoms of the individual. The fact is, our terminology somehow changed and I can't quite figure how that came about, (it obviously occurred very gradually.), but we can still operate under a republic if people become aware that we are a republic—not a democracy.
I personally believe that there is much legislation in place today that limits individual freedom and sovereignty, that goes against what our founding fathers had intended and, more importantly, goes against the constitution and the republic for which we stand.
Now, how can we get a Republic back?
