A Vietnam vet friend of mine argues that maintaining a democracy requires three things: a passion for freedom, tolerance for diversity and intolerance for threats.

A letter from a reader, responding to a column on Iraq's struggling democracy, suggested I write about the United States' own tortuous path — sketching a nation that began with limited voting rights and confronted powerful factions, ethnic animosities, urban riot, rural rebellion and destructive civil war. The reader t ...

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