We are not a democracy, we are a democratic republic

As we slog through the final 10 weeks of the midterm election campaigns touting candidates for national, state, and local offices, there is much braying of hot-button words throughout the political media: democracy, freedom, climate change disasters, water and air quality, socialism, communism, voter suppression, K-shaped economy, foreign wars, medical care, national debt, and the “pocketbook”…