When I was in school 70 years ago we were taught that democracy was the worst form of government!
we are, or were, Constitutional Republic and never intended to be a democracy.
The two aren't mutually exclusive. All "republic" means is that we aren't ruled by a hereditary monarchy. "Constutional" means that there's an official document organizing the government. And "democracy" means "rule by the people"--which I think is a better description of what the founders intended than, say, an oligarchy, kritarchy or noocracy.