[Olog-hai]

Don't evade the question. Even socialist states have appropriated the name "republic", the falsity of the appellation aside—the "R" in USSR was "Republics". That doesn't take away from the character of a true republic, but denying the nature of a true republic implies a lack of understanding of what a republic is.

[central_va]

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

The word democratic or democracy does not appear in the US Constitution.

[central_va]

A communist country can call themselves a republic if they like, but that is a bastardization. Their elected officials are not really elected, they are appointed or run for office with no competitor. No parties exist except the one Communist party. All the republics in a communist country have the same laws unless the oligarchy gives them permission to deviate. That is not a republic.