Where the American 'concept' of a democratic (no capital 'D) and free society are judged to be nonexistent (and not only in American eyes, I'm an Australian with the horror of Howard) the description "the darkest corners of the world" seems to exist as a judgement of 'lesser'. It is difficult to be 'free' if you are a national minority in a so-called democratic society where democracy is primarily about a rule of the majority. It has been said again and again that power is a problem of both democracy and of freedom - profit over people - the privileged over the underprivileged, and so on. As a national minority I have said often that I don't believe in democracy as it stands. This I might add, has been seen as an abominable heresy, particularly by Americans. I also add, that I haven't seen any workable solutions yet in national politics, particularly in western nations.   Democracy is a myth to justify violence as history shows again and again. Bush is a minority I am given to understand, one of the least supported Presidents ever so it's a mystery to me why HE espouses democracy.   Like many Presidents, he has tied Christianity to justifying an abominable world relationship. That being said "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it... violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars" is absolutely true so thanks to both Martin Luther King and also to freda for drawing our attention to it. We are all accountable, in my opinion, to history, for what we leave. It seems to me that this is not about democracy and a free society but about how we want the world to be for the generations unborn and how we practice our humanity. We are all demeaned by violence, by the diminished dignity this inflicts on our fellow humans so if we accept Bush's inauguration address to spread liberty and freedom to "the darkest corners of the world" well..........