I'd say it's more of an administrative dictatorship, which the courts usually agree to. Both are a problem. Our lives are run by regulation, but when some laws are passed by popular vote that aren't completely PC, the judiciary is there to nullify them (gay marriage, voter ID).
A good article on "Administrative Law" can be found in this month's Imprimis from Hillsdale Univ
A large part of the problem is that we, the victims of this scam, meekly accept that the rulings of a branch of the federal government are valid in cases involving the limits of the powers of....the federal government. Decisions on limits of federal power should be made by the state judiciaries (maybe a panel made up of rotating members of state supreme courts or something like that).
Yes. The legislative branch is primarily a dog & pony show for the masses.
A black swan event such as ebola outbreak in Central America causing a tsunami of diseased peasants would (will?) eliminate even the facade that the US is still a republic. We would have an acknowledged takeover by the administrative branch. i.e. declared or de facto martial law.
While the influx of diseased illegals we are seeing now is awful, an ebola caused wave would be like a “b” apocalypse movie. Beyond the imagination of the average low information American.