Remarks on Greek Independence Day
Blair House
March 23, 2006
Thank you for the kind
introduction, Andrew. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America,
Father Alex Karloutsos, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit,
Foreign Minister Bakoyanni, Deputy Minister Folias, Ambassador Mallias,
the Honorable Andrew Natsios, Undersecretary Burns, Assistant Secretary
Fried—it’s a pleasure to be here. Ladies and Gentleman:
I have always been proud to
be a Greek-American, so it’s a personal privilege to welcome you to
tonight’s celebration in honor of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of
America and the 185th anniversary of Greek independence.
Pardon me if this sounds
immodest, but between two and three thousand years ago, Greece gave
birth to a philosophical style and train of thought that has helped
liberate more than half the world.
Flourishing between
Judeo-Christian faith to the east and Roman law to the west, the Golden
Age of Greece and then Hellenism elaborated reason-based modes of
inquiry, analysis, and discourse that helped interpret and draw
together the ancient Mediterranean world. And it is disproportionately
from the ancient Mediterranean world that our modern world derives—in
increasingly democratic form.
Against this backdrop,
Greece’s independence 185 years ago was a renewal and return to our
peninsula and islands of the freedom that the ancient Greeks defined
through their institutions, philosophy, literature, commercial
activities, art, and architecture.
In parallel, Europe, North
America, South America, the subcontinent of India, Japan, South Korea,
and many other regions and nations have aspired to replicate within
their democratic experiments the virtues of Greek thought and debate.
Democracy, of course, is a
restless form of government. Indeed, while serving as US ambassador to
Iraq, another cradle of civilization, I could not help thinking that
democratic principles, which we all idealize, should not be too harshly
judged in their imperfect implementation.
No one has faced a more
difficult task than the Iraqis in shaping a system of Greek origin to
their particular historical and cultural setting. Nor, I would submit,
have any people been braver in pushing through two elections and a
constitutional referendum in a span of less than twelve months.
We Americans can sympathize
with the Iraqis’ struggles, the struggles of the Afghans, the
Ukrainians, the Liberians, and many other peoples building and
strengthening their democracies. We know that democratic independence
isn’t a task that’s done once and done forever. We fought our war of
independence in the 18th century, but if we had been having
dinner on this spot early in the 19th century, we would have had stars
overhead and smoke in our eyes because our good friends the British had
put this part of Washington to the torch. And of course, a few decades
later, we fought a civil war, the most terrible price we have ever
paid, so that all Americans could be free.
I offer these thoughts
because they trace not only the difficulty of democratic development
through history but also its constancy. The inquiring habits of mind of
Ancient Greece still underpin the urge of individuals throughout the
world to ask great questions—and in the case of democracy, the biggest
questions of all: Why should this or that people be free and not us?
Why shouldn’t we, with the same God-given gifts, enjoy similar
opportunities to express, better, and secure ourselves? How could it be
that someone else has rights we do not have?
It seems to me that the mere
asking of such questions—wherein the voices of Greek philosophers can
be distinctly heard—is justification enough to gather in honor of the
glories of Ancient Greece, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of
America, and the 185th anniversary of modern Greece’s independence.
Again, it’s a pleasure to have you with us this evening.
Thank you one and all for your presence.