The standard deduction amount depends on your filing status, whether you are 65 or older or blind, and whether another taxpayer can claim an exemption for you. Generally, the standard deduction amounts are adjusted each year for inflation. The standard deduction amounts for most people are shown in Table 20-1.
According to the CIA World Factbook the United States of America's government type is a Constitution-based federal republic with a strong democratic tradition. Broken down further... Constitution-based: The Constitution of the United States of America acts as the highest and supreme law of the Union.
The United States is a multi-faceted Representative Democracy: we elect representatives in many aspects of our government form, all of which have specific duties and limits on power. We periodically have elections to either retain or replace our representatives. Representative form of government is one where (some) citizens chose another citizen to make political decisions for them. That is, rather than a citizen being directly involved in politics and government, they chose a proxy to make their choice for them.