User blog comment:20thCentFopp/A Hymn To Democracy: Fantastic Four vs. Sub-Mariner/@comment-4652104-20131206105644/@comment-4652104-20131206145239

But that is exactly my point, early american republicanism (not democracy) was at least as oligarchic as Athenian (actual) democracy. It was certainly not more democratic. And the Athenian democracy was, for it's time (of god-kings and emperors), even more astounding.

Furthermore, Americans were not even the originators of modern republicanism/democracy. Enlightenment thinkers drew the idea partly from ancient Greek polis (which many Founders found preposterous). And the American Founders themselves based their ideas of freedom and the relationship of state and people largely on the experience of the British, who experimented with forms of participatory government for a good 500 years and were in fact one of the first states to do away with a king entirely (if temporarily). They were also later themselves influenced by Dutch self-government in the Glorious Revolution.

It seems very likely, that there would be no War of American Independence, had it not been a British colony.

Americans like to think of themselves as "the most democratic state", but they are in fact not.

As for Namor. He remains a beautifully ambiguous character, though more of a hero than villain. I think that was inevitable, as modern readers (especially Americans), contrary to those in the 60s, are in fact in love with monarchy/aristocracy.