Willravel

This is a very good guess, and a lot of ( if not most) people would agree with you, but not quite. A republic is a form of government where the head of state is not a monarch. This is a broad term that includes representative democracy. So we live in a Republic that is democratic.

In a democracy decisions are made by representatives who act by the citizens consent, as enforced by elections and the rule of law.
Our war on Iraq (originally for weapons, now supposedly for freeing people who never asked for our help) has left us in control of the second largest oil source of the world, and with a terrific launching point for an attack on the first largest source. We are already beginning to hear a growing number of weapons are being developed in Saudi Arabia.

The fact that we have troops and bases organized to preside over the Earth's natural resources (for control, of course) makes us more of the Pax Americana (in the derogatory sense of the word); an Empire (or an imperium). the Emperor, while not one person, is one body. Our vicroys are the heads of state in many of our allies countries. Very soon the viceroy in Iraq will be in power, for example. An empire, while depending on the support of it's citizens eventually, willusually act to it's (the governments) own ends while trying to appear to be acting in the citizens best interest. Whether the goals of the government and those of the people are one and the same or not is not a matter of importance in pertaining to the trype of government.

Of course this is all IMO.