Could very well be Hillary versus Jeb. But most voters are aware that both of them are packing a lot of baggage….

Also, it could very well be that there is be a ringer or two out there. Bernie Sanders we've heard a bit about, and he has a lot going for him. But there may be others. We'll see….

Thomas Jefferson said that the success of Democracy depends on an informed electorate. Ominous words in this day and age, when the vast majority of people have only the foggiest idea of what Democracy is all about.

All Americans—or all those who think they live in a Democratic society—would do very well to read First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea, by Paul Woodruff.   I read this some years ago, and the scales fell from my eyes. Quite a surprising and enlightening book. There are several aspects of Athenian Democracy that worked quite well—that we don't have—much to our peril!

Woodruff outlines where the Athenians blew it—women were not allowed to participate (many Athenians at the time noted that Athens was wantonly wasting half of its intellectual power by not including women), and some Athenians kept slaves, also objected to at the time.

But they had worked out a system by which their version of Congress was unbribable (!), nor was it possible to bribe juries. AND—elected officials served limited terms and were then judged by a jury of citizens at the end of their term and either rewarded or banished, depending on how well or ill they had done.

Particularly interesting is Woodruff's "Afterword: Are Americans Ready for Democracy?"

…Well…all things considered, that's an interesting question.

I read this book a few years ago, and I pull it out and reread it from time to time.

Don Firth