Presidents are impressionable like that. If Truman had said, "Monkey urine is an excellent source of potassium," we'd have that printed on the back of the dollar bill by now. (Sure, we're laughing now, but wait until the George W. Bush "workin' hard to put food on your family" commemorative proof nickels come out.)

When aggression is carried out and mislabeled "the spread democracy," that word acts as a sweetener to help the violence go down easier. It takes a strong gut to challenge that misuse. Just like the word "terrorism," the word "democracy" will need to be retired, strictly defined and then re-adopted if its usefulness is to be preserved.

Anytime -- every time! -- you hear someone throw away a loaded word like "democracy," hold them to account. Take nothing for granted. Democracies are no more naturally predisposed against avarice, aggression, fundamentalism, "terrorism" or war than any other forms of government are.