democracy

[Brad DeLong]

>At 06:30 PM 07/19/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>>But we do agree that Israel is "the only half-democratic country in
>>the area" (save perhaps for Iran; Egypt, I think, counts as a quarter
>>democratic)...
>
>Sure, and Athens was democratic too...if you don't count the slaves.
>
>Joanna Bujes

And the point is... what? That Athens (where 20% of the people had 
the vote) was no better than Sparta (where 5% of the people had the 
vote) or the Persian Empire (where 0.001% of the people had the vote)?

If that is your point, it strikes me as profoundly stupid. If that is 
not your point, I simply don't understand what it is...

Brad DeLong