<blockquote>Let us have as much representative democracy as necessary, and as much participatory democracy as possible.</blockquote>
<cite>~ Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Venezuelan ambassador to the U.S.A.</cite>
Here is a contradiction. On the one hand, the United States have long been an inspiration to democracy movements around the globe, from revolutions across the Americas to the Chinese democracy movement of 1989. On the other hand, most of the "democracy" U.S. foreign policy has attempted to export has had little in common with the democratic ideals America is supposed to support.