I'll take a case of democracy and a bag of freedom...

I shudder every time I hear President Bush pepper his speeches with "freedom" and "democracy" like he sells it by the case. Our democracy happened to work out because the colonies were already mostly there, with the English law tradition of citizen's rights that the government must protect. We had the right background for it to work. Look all over the world at countries that have tried and failed, or took a much longer time to get to a working democracy. Look at all the African nations that, once they achieved independence from Europe, elected a government only to have whoever was elected hang on to power by hook or by crook. Look at all the countries where, if an election goes against a certain group, they resort to arms.