Democracy vs. dictatorship

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I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this quote from Ari Fleisher during a press gaggle at the Whitehouse:

Democracy, as the President says, is God's gift to the world. Liberty does not come from America. Liberty is a naturally endowed right that comes from the Creator, according to our own Declaration of Independence.

Tell that to the Athenians. Or to the revolutionnaires who chopped off a few heads from our Royaume de Droit Divin to establish democracy in France 214 years ago. Or to all the people who had to fight against religious extremists to establish democracy almost everywhere in the world.

A fundamental aspect of modern democracies, is the strict separation between the Church and the State. This democratic trait is apparently missing in the present US federal governement. At best, it stands for a republic, at worst it seems not any better than a religious dictatorship.