It’s even harder to keep up with the “ laws” when a government agency changes what it chooses to change and ignores what it chooses to ignore and operates by executive order
Bingo. We are now living in a land governed by regulations as much as by laws. And as you noted, a regulation can be changed by executive order. A regulation can also be changed by the whim of some bureaucrat.
That is not a characteristic of a Republic. It is a characteristic of an Empire.