What are the two principles on …

Principles of Democracy: Rule of law, freedom of press, respect of human rights, active political processes & enlightened citizens.

Each of these 'basic' to democracy, meaning that democracy can't exist without all of them.

1. The Rule of Law - we are a nation of laws, not of men. Presidents and legislatures can't just do whatever they can get away with, they are limited by law. Laws represent the will of the people.

2. Freedom of the Press - in a democracy it's people, the voters, who are ultimately in control. The people need information in order to vote wisely, and that's why we need a free press and freedom of political speech.

3. Respect of human rights - we must realize that people are the most important thing, the purpose of government is to serve the needs of the people, not vice versa. This is the main reason for the Bill of Rights.

4. Active Political Processes - democracy is not a spectator sport, it's a participation sport. It won't work if most people don't take part. A lot of the trouble we've been having in the US can be blamed on the lack of participation of so many people, small voter turnouts, etc. The more people who care enough to vote, and who then stick around to see how their votes turned out, the better off we'll be.

5. Enlightened Citizens - This is another problem we have here. Citizens must be educated and must understand the purpose of democracy, how and why we have it. This takes a high literacy rate