March 6, 2006
 
COMMENTARY: Eleutheria: A Word Missing in Government’s Vocabulary
 
By Cicero
Special to Huntington News Network
 
The Greeks had a name for it: “eleutheria” – "freedom” – a basic requirement for any fulfilled human existence. The early Greek records show an acknowledgement of an unfree condition – “douleia” – and it was not until the archaic period that the values of freedom began to be appreciated. This occurred about 600 BC, as indicated in the poems of Solon and in some statements by Alkaios of Lesbos. There appeared to be two events that helped foster freedom: the decision to conquer Greece taken in 500 BC by Persia's rulers Dareios and Xerxes, and Athens's efforts half a century later to build itself into an empire. This empire was engendered by the need to bring together the various Greek city states in an effort to counter Persia.
 
Particularly interesting to see is the variety of ways used by Athens to justify her rule. Many charged that the freedom of the member states was being infringed; Athens rejoined that she was bringing her allies a different and more genuine kind of freedom by offering an essential tool for protecting their own freedom - the principles and procedures of a democratic government.
 
In reality, Athens was forcing itself on the other states with its own idea of democracy, causing the other states to effectively lose their freedom of choice. Aristophanes the poet in 425 BC stated he was "showing how the (allies') demoi (common people) are democratized." The peoples in the allied states might have been living under newly-instituted democracies, but were then effectively controlled by the demos (common people) of Athens who used the excuse for keeping a firm grip on their Empire, claiming it was the only way of preserving their own freedom against possible take-over by Sparta. Eventually, Athens confronted Sparta and through a misguided invasion in Sicily lost its freedom in 404 BC.
 
History has repeated told us that government often tends to believe that it and only it has come to a “true” understanding of democracy and freedom. This in many instances has been used by certain governments to impose their own will on other nations. Great Britain, for example, used this rationale to build an empirical extension upon which the “sun never sets.” Another example is France, Belgium, Germany and others who thought they were the only one who knew what was the best form of government for others only to be proven atrociously wrong by history, yet giving rise to many problems that have lingered throughout centuries to have a negative impact even on the current world.
 
Today, it appears to the United States who believes it alone knows what freedom and democracy means and others should just follow its lead. We have to bear in mind that it was not the intentions of the founders of our republic to impose our form of government on others to begin with. Even the fruits of the Spanish-American War, i.e., Cuba and the Philippines failed to result in lasting freedom for the people but rather despotic regimes.
 
The current leaders of our nation do not seem to have learned a proper lesson from history, and imposition of our form of democracy in Iraqi is just a case in point; it is unlikely that it will ever bring freedom to all its people. Our nation seems to be following the path of all others which instead of a democratic world would only lead to more chaos and instability.
 
Burdened by the egos of some of our leaders, who are definitely brilliant in some aspects but unenlightened in others, we now need to develop a philosophy of freedom and democracy, which, if true to its basis will automatically serve as a beacon to whoever want to seek freedom and democracy through their own efforts instead of having a “perfect system” imposed upon them, no matter what rationale is behind such imposition.
 
Editor’s Note: In the 1952 movie “Five Fingers,” James Mason played the valet of the British ambassador to neutral Turkey during World War II. He was a German spy who went by the code name “Cicero.” His intelligence information – including the date of D-Day – was excellent, but fortunately for the Allies, the Germans didn’t believe him, thinking him a double agent. The film was based on real events. The alternate title of the movie is “Operation Cicero.” The Roman political figure, orator and philosopher Cicero was a champion of the traditional institutions of the Roman republic and the enemy of autocracy, including the politics of Julius Caesar and Pompey.