One such occasion that naturally prompts reflection is when a leader of another nation comes to ours, meets with our leaders, and shares words with them in a formal address. This past week brought exactly that with the visit and address to Congress by His Excellency Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Greece. The “elected leader of the people who created democracy” addressed “the elected Representatives of the people who founded their country on the Greek model.”
Freedom is something to celebrate: “The birth of democracy in ancient Athens brought about an explosion of the creative spirit in Greece that produced the architecture, the art, the drama, and the philosophy that have shaped Western civilization ever since. The establishment of democracy in the United States has brought about the greatest expansion of human freedom and human progress the world has ever known. Ladies and gentlemen, last year, Greece celebrated 200 years since the beginning of our war of independence. And in a very strange but interesting twist of historical fate, it was the Greek people who were inspired by the foundation of American democracy when they rose against their oppressor to fight for their own freedom.”
