I heard a good discussion on this topic the other day. It seems as though some Communists decided some time ago that referring to our being a Republic would encounter stronger resistance to their agenda. They determined that referring to us as a “democracy” would be “more palpable and less threatening” to the populace that they seek to control.
It’s distressing that even some “Republicans” have adopted the Communists bastardization of the language.
I tested that theory in a discussion with a staffer for Senator Ted Cruz a few weeks ago. When I asked her what for of Government our Founding Fathers had created, she replied: “A democracy”. I was stunned and disappointed. So I immediately gave her a history and inclided the quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin when he as asked what they had done during the Constitutional Convention. He relied: “A Republic...if we can keep it.”.
Now we all know why they also wrote the Second Amendment.
That staffer was likely a product of the modern K12 system and a Poly Sci grad. She may have heard the term Republic if somewhere along her educational road she had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Her knowledge (and most people’s!0 of republic vs democracy probably goes no deeper than that.