So much for democracies, but what does it say of republics?
You mean like the Roman Republic?
It seems like we're one fire away from hearing a Nero fiddle tune.
Ben Franklyn, when asked what he had achieved replied, "A Republic, if we can keep it," and we haven't kept it. We are now as close to a complete "Democracy" as a country can get.
Our Founding Fathers knew a Democracy was nothing more than "Mob Rule" and they went to great lengths to prevent our Representative Republic from becoming one. However, each preventive step our Founding Fathers made in our electoral process to prevent Mob Rule/Democracy were one by one eliminated by the Democrat Party until we now have an almost perfect Mob Rule/Democracy.
Initially, our Republic was preserved through very limited voting rights. In order to have voting rights, a citizen had to have been a white, male property owner, and the U.S. House of Representatives was elected by this small pool of voters.
To further limit the possibility of "Mob Rule," the U.S. Senate was to be elected by the State Senates and not by the same pool of voters as was the U.S House.
To even further limit the possibility of "Mob Rule," the President wouldn't be elected by the same pool of voters as was the House of Representatives but would be elected by an "Electoral College" that was elected by these voters.
As you can see, the only "Mob Rule" preventive measure still remaining in effect is the Electoral College that prevents the President from being elected by a "Popular" vote, and the Democrats keep trying to undo that one.