Pedantic drift: "Whether you like it or not, these people were elected by a majority of the population of our fair country, and they deserve the respect of their offices. In Al Gore's case, he got a majority of the vote and still didn't get elected."

None of them got a majority. What you mean is that more people voted for Clinton than for Daddy Bush and whoever the guy was last time (Dole was it? Footnotes of history), and more people voted for Gore than for Baby Bush.

But it wasn't a majority of the voters, since there were third party candidates around to share the votes - and nothing like a majority of the people who could have voted, since thye USA has such an remarkably low tuirnout in elections (I think it's probably the lowest in the world world - the spin on that when the turnout goes down in England is that it shows how contented people are...

THe word you want is plurality.

I don't know why anyone should be keen to emphasise that they live in a Republic, but be pleased that it is not a Democracy. You could say the same of South Africa under apartheid. The same for Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, Saddam's Iraq, the Taliban's Afghanistan, Pol Pot's Cambodia...and a lot more. I doubt very much if there's anyone around here who much fancies that bunch.