Were there any people who lived centuries or millennia ago who (isolated) argued for such modern ideas as human equality, abolition of slavery, democracy, and so on? Mo Tzu sounded for instance very much like a Christian humanitarian of the 19th or 20th Century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Tzuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohism
Leaving aside that you kinda answered your own question - yes.
They didn’t argue for it in the same way or circumstances as we do now, of course. But none of those ideas are new.
Athens, of course, had democracy long before it caught on elsewhere.
Democracy were probably used among cave men tribes. I read that democratic assemblies in Mesopotamia were replaced by the first monarchies.
How would anyone know that? Mesopotamians had priest-kings by the time they (or anyone else) had the capability of leaving any written evidence about it.
is this just your opinion, because I see no evidence that would support that. Socialism is much more prevalent in small tribal societies, where many hands make light work.
Democracy and Socialism are not mutually exclusive.
Huh? Democracy is about politics, socialism is about economics. You can certainly have them together, or not.
The brave and noble pirates of the 17th and 18th centuries, well-known for their peaceful and humanitarian sensibilities, practiced democracy. Obviously democracy was nothing new by this point in history but regardless I like to think that pirates were the first true Americans (even if they hadn’t been technically naturalized) and the real fathers of democracy in the western world.
King Edward IV of England was wearing mind-bendingly psychedelic shirts long before the invention of LSD.
Are you sure that’s not a photo of John Lithgow? 
An interesting way to describe a bunch of murderers, rapist, and thieves. If that’s how democracy works I think I’ll run as far from it as possible. Athenians as well. Their form of democracy was just plain crazy by our standards. Holding a lottery to determine public office is no way to run a government.
Ben Franklin always seemed to me to be an example of a time-traveler caught in the past.
They were just misunderstood. They were a very honorable people. For example, they recognized the universal right of all pirates to invoke parlay. Please check your facts next time you post about pirates.
Cite, please? Where and when did this occur? On what documents is it based?
The practices of pirates varied from place to place and time to time. Sometimes they practiced rough democracy, sometimes they were under the command of a leader like Morgan who operated essentially like a military commander.
I love you.
Y’know, you really shouldn’t post drunk.
Speak for yourself!
I thought I’d taken great lengths to ensure that both of my posts wouldn’t be taken seriously. 
“The brave and noble pirates”
“well-known for their peaceful and humanitarian sensibilities”
“I like to think that pirates were the first true Americans”
I even threw in a Disney film reference.
Guess it wasn’t enough! 
And yet there is a point buried in there among all the misunderstandings. Many pirate bands did practice a form of democracy (and economic egalitarianism). Furthermore, they generally liberated any slaves they seized.
This was all based on self-interest, of course, rather than high-minded ethical principles.
As opposed to the system America uses now? :dubious: