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Originally posted by Hefficide
I've actually been doing a bit of research and it appears that the argument can be made for America being the oldest continuous participatory democracy.
Just not in the way one might think.
Iceland seems to have a fairly strong claim as well, dating back to 930 AD.
except for the implementation of the Patriot Act, PRISM and foreign policy.
Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger is poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle -- with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Originally posted by Hefficide
From the White House site
Proclamation -- Captive Nations Week, 2013
CAPTIVE NATIONS WEEK, 2013
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
As citizens of the oldest democracy on earth,
Originally posted by Hefficide
I, for one, am absolutely outraged.
Mr President, We, the People, are not fools. The fact that you, Sir, managed to fool many of us only implies that we were desperate for hope... NOT that we are stupid.
Originally posted by dave_welch
For a man as educated as he is, he sure says a lot of stupid things.
How many truths can we ALL find to be self evident today?
We know that work is not yet complete because there are many other countries we want to attack to bring about "peace" and "democracy" . Even as the light of liberty and justice has spread across the globe, too many people still labor in the darkness of tyranny and oppression. In too many parts of the world, fundamental freedoms remain unrealized, and the protections of law extend only to a privileged few (Insert your own obvious remark lol)