text: Communism is an economic system, not a system of government.\n\nThe opposite of communism (central/shared ownership) is capitalism (individual ownership). But either could theoretically exist in anything from a democracy to a republic to a monarchy. \n\nDemocracy is straight voter control. All decisions based on individual votes. The US is not a democracy. It is a republic, where we elect people to make laws for us, rather than doing it ourselves.\n\nThe opposite of a democracy is a monarchy, where one person has total control. If that person chooses to ignore the laws of the country with impunity, then it becomes a tyranny.\n\nBut it's mix-and-match how you combine economic systems, which determine how property is owned, with government systems, which determine how laws are made.