Sean Patrick Maloney: “Greece has been called the birthplace of United States democracy, and I would like to quote: ``Our Constitution is…”

“Greece has been called the birthplace of United States democracy, and I would like to quote: ``Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of the minority, but of the whole people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law. When it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not the membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man or woman possesses.'' This sounds like it could have been written by one of our Founding Fathers, but it was actually written by Pericles in an address made in Greece 2,000 years ago. Thomas Jefferson once said, ``To the ancient Greeks we are all indebted for the light which led ourselves, the American colonies, out of Gothic darkness.'' Just as Greek ideas of democracy and individual liberties became the foundation of our government, the American Revolution became one of the ideals of the Greeks as they fought for their independence in the 1820s. Greek intellectuals translated the Declaration of Independence of the United States and used it as their own declaration.”