On Fri, 8 Jul 2005, Mike Hord wrote:

> I've heard it argued (and I agree) that all civilizations are at heart 
> democratic. Power only exists with the consent of the ruled.

When the ruled to not agree with power in a consistent and open manner 
you have something called anarchy. A civil war comes pretty close.

Anyway the current sense of the word democracy does not coincide with 
the old sense, but, sometimes amusingly, the new version seems much more 
like the old meaning under everyday circumstances. Just as an example, 
the people (de demos) in the ancient version implied only the free 
citizens of *one* city, slaves and women not counted. Any modern 
parallels are coincidental.

Peter
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