"Star World, do you prefer a democracy or a republic?"

A combination of both! While I am certainly pro-democracy, there are instances where there must be a certain degree of control over those who are abnormal in some way and lack the ability to reason the difference between right and wrong.

Would you want to allow a mad man to buy a gun without question, knowing that he planned to use it for no good? Would you want your kids to fall victim to your corner drug pusher, or to some pervert, or perhaps even worse? Would you like to fall victim to a major scam or have your bank account cleaned our with no recourse to get your money back? Would you like to drive your car on a road where insurance was not mandatory, and there were no laws to protect the innocent from the villains? If you are normal, you would not be in favor of any of those scenarios.

Indeed! Without such control, clearly society as a whole would decent into total chaos. Power is not something that you are given, but rather it is something that you take if given the opportunity to do so. When there is no one to stop a power hungry person, they will more than likely turn corrupt and try to destroy the rest of society. History is filled with such people.