Democracy is rule by the people. The people who live there. With their culture, their history, and their social structure.

America's position in the world is unique. Though we do have a national spirit, and heaven knows we have been overcome by nationalism, especially the martial variety, from time to time, we are a nation because we all agree to be. We are one of very few nations in history that it's possible to join the way one joins a club.

Other nations, especially in parts of the world that have been politically organized for millennia, don't have that kind of arrangement. People are either members of the nation because of birth and tradition, or they aren't. Mutual agreement and Declarations have nothing to do with it.

To attempt to "Americanize" these nations starts out as a losing proposition. They need to find their own road to democracy, because it's government by the people. Their people, not our people. The American road is for Americans. You would think we would have recognized this by now.