Republics are not better than Democracies. All of these Western nations have fallen under the consequences of Republican forms of government. Electing someone to make decisions for you leads to people who want to be in that position for the sake of betraying you in that position. Compare the US to Switzerland. One is a republic, one is a democracy. Democracy has its problems, especially unlimited democracy (such as Athens), but limited constitutional democracies like Switzerland clearly work better, and are only second to monarchies and full self-government. You should only elect leaders to administrate but not make decisions. Not because the people will always make good decisions, but a system with the misaligned incentives of a republic leads to consistently the worst decisions. From horrible to better: Communism, republicanism, democracy, monarchy, self-government. If you add recognized limits to any one of them it helps. The best places to live in the world are Lichtenstein (monarchy), and Switzerland (democracy). I'm not some kind of democracy fiend but republicanism straight up sucks. I'm tired of these retarded and corrupt leaders we are forced to elect.