[Athena]

Zenner you put so much work into your post. Can we drop the political discussion and stay with philosophy?

Do we have agreement that the first democracy was Athens? Can we agree that this came about because of a belief in many Gods, who were brothers and sisters?

When the philosophers asked how the Gods resolve their differences, they determined, reason, is the controlling force of universe made manifest in speech. It was believed we are as the Gods because we can learn and reason. Democracy is about doing things the way the Gods themselves do things. The Gods didn't vote. They argued until they had a consensus on the best reasoning.

Forget the laws and law enforcers for a minute and think about culture. Our technological society has gone over the edge with excessive need to be technologically correct. This is destroying our justice and democracy in general, as we are becoming an impersonal police state, the complete oposite of what the hope for democracy.

The Statue of Liberty carries a book for literacy and a torch for enlightenment.
She stands for our democracy, with justice and liberty for all. Only highly moral people can liberty, and that is gained through education for good moral judgement, and literacy. These are cultural qualities.

Our form of government is republic. It is our culture that is suppose to be democratic. Our form of government is only one expression of democracy. How we treat each other, the quality of all our relationships, are other eexpressions of democracy. You see a Zionist nation for Jews, can never be a democracy, because the culture of Zionism is not one of democracy. Isreal has a degree of political democracy, but that is no good without a culture for democracy. And the US has forgotten the culture of democracy and is the New World Order it stood against. Please, democracy is about philosophy, not religion, and its government is only one expression of the culture for democracy. Forget that and it dies!