WEBSITE INTRODUCTION

The objective of Lessons in Democracy is to provide a straightforward, short, yet comprehensive guide to what may be termed “the organizing principle for human society.” It is designed for the common man and woman. We want to educate the people of the world, so we, meaning humanity, can finally escape from our historical legacy of conflict, repression and dictatorship.

The education comprises twenty 2-4 page lessons, for a total of 60 pages. It should take only a few hours to read. For this small amount of effort, you will attain an understanding of democracy that at present few people on earth can match.

Please tell other people about the site. We are attempting to contact pro-democracy groups for every country on earth, but if you know of anyone who might find the site of interest, please let them know. We are particularly interested in suggestions, or assistance, on how to alert teachers and students in civics and government, at both the high school and university levels. (If you are a student, please tell your peers.)

This will go a long way towards alerting the public to the education’s availability, but it unfortunately applies only to English speakers. We therefore have the associated goal to provide translations in other languages. We are actively seeking translators for any and all of the languages of the world. While we will be attempting to secure funding for this initiative, if you are positioned such that you can help, we would implore you to volunteer. For example, if you are a university student with a major in government, you could propose this as your thesis. Translators will of course be credited.

In addition to posting such translations on the website, we further have the goal of narrating the lessons and then broadcasting them into countries that are not yet free.

A word of caution, though: This is not a particularly easy subject to translate. Democracy is based on a core set of ideas that are in fact alien to some cultures, for example, “free will.” Such cultures, their languages, do not even have the words to express these ideas, at least not in a simple manner. Learning about democracy requires that you change the way you think, but if your language doesn’t allow it, then how is this possible? We are willing to work closely with translators to overcome these difficulties and to find a way to express the fundamental ideas of democracy, in any language.