Democracy is one of those words that are on everybody's lips but in few hearts or minds. The concept behind the word is one of the most abused and misconstrued ideas in history. Our country was called a democracy when we still had millions of slaves. Our nation today is called a democracy when millions of citizens never exercise their right to vote, a few hundred party leaders select our national political candidates, and only …showed first 75 words of 1424 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1424 total…yet been resolved. Despite the undeniable, occasional defects of democratic practice; the Athenians clung to their way of government in prosperity and defeat alike, with the exception of one brief lapse just after the Peloponnesian war. Athens was a democracy from 508 to 267 BC, the longest-lived democracy which has yet existed. No democratic structure, moreover, has gone further, by direct vote and the use of the lot, to ensure that every citizen had the same power.