ABSTRACT
Our age is strewn with wounded words, among which few have more grievously suffered than "democracy" and "democratic". "Democracy" has become a verbal shell that spreads its shot over a wide target. Everyone today, of course, is democratic, pro-democracy. No one would dream of defending a proposal or institution by calling it "antidemocratic". That is to say, one important current use of the word "democratic" and its associates is to express a positive evaluation, a sentiment of approval. "Liberty" may be considered the special virtue of a constitutional government: "the prevalence of law and public decrees over the appetites of particular men", in the words of the Italian Renaissance historian, Guicciardini. Democratic government is good; the citizens' liberty is good; therefore the citizens' liberty is assured under democratic government. However, "freedom" is used in other contexts as if synonomous with "liberty", thus referring to the political presence of the rule of law, juridical defense, protected rights and due process.
