It is fitting that we consider the birth, life and death of democracy. Democracy is a delicate plant. Adverse winds wither it. It may be withering now.
Ancient Greece provided its first soil. The soil was thin, the winds contrary. The bloom was short-lived. A tentative revival in republican Rome was the last of it for 2,000 years. The infant United States gave it new life in a new time. From there, little by little over the next two centuries, it spread round the world, sinking deep roots here, shallow roots there, no roots at all where climate, culture or regime proved inhospitable.