That is to say, the idea that democracy is something that you do yourself or for which you take risks had receded so far out of our imagination that we couldn't really imagine that a country would take risks for democracy.
Es decir, la idea de que la democracia es algo que hacemos nosotros mismos, o algo por lo que nos sacrificamos, estaba tan fuera de nuestra imaginación que jamás íbamos a concebir que un país se sacrificaría por su democracia.