Democracy? The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. There are three juridical attributes that inseparably belong to the citizen by right. These are: 1. Constitutional freedom, as the right of every citizen to have to obey no other law than that to which he has given his consent or approval. 2. Civil equality, as the right of the citizen to recognize no one as superior among the people in relation to himself...; and 3. Political independence, as the right to owe his existence and continuance in society not to the arbitrary will of another, but to his own rights and powers as a member of the commonwealth. —Science of the Right, 1797 Born and raised in Waterbury, Connecticut, Robert Leon has traveled extensively in Mexico, Cuba, and Europe and has had jobs ranging from window decorating, sign painting, and mural painting to writing and sales. During World War II, he served in the Maritime Service and the U.S. Army. Currently living in California, he is married and the father of two. Democracy (b. 1984) is Mr. Leon's second novel.