It's a democratic republic in the sense that we have a direct election of leaders and lawmakers. It's a bit pedantic because nowadays people use them interchang

It's a democratic republic in the sense that we have a direct election of leaders and lawmakers. It's a bit pedantic because nowadays people use them interchangeably but we don't really have direct elections over the laws themselves (not at the federal level anyways, some states do allow for direct votes on amendments at the state and local level).