>>>”There would have been no democracy in the way we know it”<<<
I often see the word “democracy” & Greece conjoined & thrown around a fair bit. Wondered 3 things:
a. Can you provide your definition of “democracy”, so that I understand to what (context) you are referring?
b. When exactly, and under what circumstances did many notable present-day European nations become demcratic?
c. What was the basis for democracy in America? I mean the U.S.
Although Cronos introduced the concept of democracy when I mentioned Athenian literature, up the thread, I’ll take a stab at this.
a. Democracy, by my definition, is direct voting on major affairs, such as was conducted in Athens.
b. Contemporary European nations are not democratic.
c. The United States’s particular form of “representative democracy” was developed under the influence of British political theorists - those fun guys, Locke and Hume, and hard-partying Charles James Fox. These writers were influenced by the experience of the Roman Republic as reported by writers such as Cicero and Plutarch, and a bit of Aristotle and Plato. Our founders did not choose to follow any model or theory fully, but drew elements from different historical sources and theories, paying attention to what had succeeded and failed among the past examples.
Happy Saturday! We’re off to the South Carolina zoo.