"All people share an inherent right and irrepressible desire to live in freedom and make decisions about their own lives. As historical and more recent events have shown, denial of this basic truth leads inevitably to injustice, conflict, and suffering.

    "Democracy is the best form of government for ensuring peace, prosperity, sustainable development, and human progress because it is rooted in a recognition of human rights and allows for the orderly reconciliation of competing views and interests. It is a political system based on the free consent of the governed, and it is maintained through a network of mutually reinforcing structures, in which those exercising power are subject to checks both within and outside the state—from independent courts, an independent press, and all the elements of a diverse and active civil society."