In his Republic, the people were deemed too fickle, influenceable, and downright too stupid to be entrusted with the responsibility of electing those who would govern the affairs of the City.
Trusting ordinary citizens to be the guarantors of democracy is a losing proposition.
In one of his dialogues, “Republic,” Plato outlines his political theories on a just way to govern the city’s affairs. If his model of a just society based on a division of class best ruled by philosophers is a non-starter for modern democracies, at least one of his remarks proved to be both prescient and accurate.
For Plato, the people are too fickle and too easily manipulated to be involved in the choice of those who should govern them. It is incredible how his observations still hold true more than 23 centuries later. Proof that human nature never changes.
It is a fact that, bare some exceptions, people have a history of voting against their own interests.
For most of its recorded history, humanity has been governed by rulers who owed their legitimacy to the gods or God. Thank God, all monarchs were not despots, and an argument could be made that many civilizations and countries experienced their apogee during the reign of enlightened and benevolent rulers.
Fast forward to the modern era; what progress have we made? To be completely candid, not much. Almost one-half of the planet is ruled by autocratic leaders and the other half by people’s representatives that do not represent them. Should we then long for the good all days when monarchs could take the long view of history and engage in reforms that could take decades, or alternatively stick with short-sighted politicians whose horizon is limited by the deadline of the next election?
An election says more about the people who do the voting than the people they elect.
Winston Churchill said it best:
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
“What good fortune for those in power that people who do not think,” Adolf Hitler
EXCERPT FROM “The Second Coming Of Trump The First” https://www.trumpthe1st.com/
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