Summary: EPISODE ONE: WHY DEMOCRACY Why did Athens and Rome choose democracy in ancient times, and why did the founders decide to adapt a form of government that had been widely shunned for two millennia? In the first episode of a new six part special series, “The Democracy Test”, Harvard classicist and political philosopher Danielle Allen joins co-hosts Neal Conan and Heather Cox Richardson to argue that democracy arises from a love of liberty and the human desire to shape our own lives. And while she accepts that our democracy faces difficult challenges today, she also sees a surge of civic engagement, “amazing new energies,” that she believes will help us find a way through. “The Democracy Test,” from Truth, Politics and Power.
