Transcript Political Thinking POL 161

Political Thinking
POL 161
Erik Rankin
D&B 14-25
The Democratic Ideal
• No one pretends that democracy is perfect or
all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that
democracy is the worst form of government
except all those other forms that have been
tried from time to time.
– Winston Churchill
• Democracy seems to be the greatest form of
government that exists
• This however is quite debatable
• Democracy is NOT an ideology but it is an ideal
• Democracy literally means “rule by the people”
• This brings up a number of questions
The Democratic Ideal
• Who are the people?
• How are they to rule?
• This is where the understanding of a single
definition goes out the window!
• Minus fascism and Nazism, most ideologies
agree that democracy is the Ideal that
society should strive for
• Why?
The Democratic Ideal
• Democracy has not always been seen as the
ideal
• Democracy first came to be used as a word
in ancient Greece
• It evolved due to a fight for power between
the demos (common people) and the
aristocracy (rule by the best)
• Pericles offered one of the first defenses of
democracy in his “Funeral Oration”
The Democratic Ideal
• Then Plato and Aristotle spoke out against
democracy
• They believe it would lead to a selfish or
corrupt form of government
• Aristotle referred to it as “mobocracy”
• He did however go on to say that there are
desirable features in democracy
• Aristotle felt a tweak was in order, he felt
the best form was that of a polity or
“republic”
The Democratic Ideal
• The “republic” view distributes power into the
hands of common and elites
• This is the system of checks and balances that
evolves
• This would be a popular government because
“the people” will have a say
• But a republic is not necessarily a democracy
• In a republic power is still wielded and
tempered by a few powerful elites
The Democratic Ideal
• There have been many supporters of the
republican form of government
• We will specifically be reading Machiavelli,
John Adams, Tocqueville, and John Stuart
Mill
• The big question: How democratic is the
United States? Scale of 1-10.
Democracy & Despotism- Euripides
• This a part of a play first performed in 422 B.C.
• There is a clear contrast here between
democracy and despotism
• Euripides embraces the ideals behind rule by
the people and condemns despotic
governments
• The selection shows an interaction between a
Theban Messenger and Theseus
Democracy & Despotism- Euripides
• The messenger has a difficult time believing that
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people can rule themselves
This difficult for a person from a land where all
humans submit to a ruler
Theseus then fires back talking about the power of
democracy compared to a tyrannical ruler
He shows the conception of freedom in democratic
terms: think triadic model!
He then delivers the proverbial slap in the face and
orders the messenger to return as a fool
Funeral Oration - Pericles
• Pericles delivered this speech following the
Peloponnesian War
• He commemorates the sacrifice of the dead
Athenians who fought to uphold their ideal of
democracy
• Delivered in 430 B.C.
Funeral Oration - Pericles
• The first part of the speech focuses on the
contribution of the democratic constitution of
Athens to the good of Athenian citizens
• On the Athenian way of thinking, a good
political community is one in which citizens live
a good (happy, fulfilled) life.
– The implied contrast is with Sparta and other such
regimes in which a good regime has ends that are
independent of the good life of citizens. Such
regimes demand that citizens sacrifice their own
good for the success or glory of the political
community.
Funeral Oration - Pericles
• The Athenian polis contributes to the good of individual
citizens in a number of ways. Life is free and easy.
– In private life, everyone is equal before the laws.
– In public life, equality of opportunity is found
– This is important in a democracy because political
equality is impossible if poor not able to take part in
government.
– And it contributes to the good of the polis by allowing it
to draw upon the talents of abilities of all citizens.
– Legal restrictions on what citizens may or must do are
relatively few.
– Citizens are tolerance of each other doing what they
like.
Funeral Oration - Pericles
• Tension between Aristocrats and Democrats
– How? (p.17 left side bottom paragraph) read
• Public spirit v. Private Spirit
– How is this made?
– p. 18 middle of paragraph (An Athenian citizen…)
• Who was a citizen in the Athenian Democracy?
– Think!
• So was this a democracy?
• Unpopular views were dealt with by death
(Socrates) or by ostracism (ostrakon- shell)
Funeral Oration - Pericles
– Many ways to refresh the mind from the burdens of
business: contests (including dramatic contests),
religious sacrifices.
– Note that this is one of the few mentions of religion
in the speech.
– Economic benefits of living in the relative wealth of
Athens: "elegance of private establishments,"
produce from all over the world.
– Education of Athenians is not a painful discipline (as
in Sparta) but encourages freedom and
"courageous habits."
– Love of beautiful things found in Athens, including
philosophy.
Funeral Oration - Pericles
• Second part of the speech focuses on how
democratic institutions serve the common
good and, in particular, leads individual
citizens to choose to serve the good of
Athens.
– They do this primarily in two places: political
discussion in the assembly and military service
– In Athens, individuals are free to pursue their
own ends and freely choose to serve the
common good.
Funeral Oration - Pericles
• The importance of action and speech in the funeral
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oration.
Pericles denigrates the importance of his speech at
two points. He does this
– To emphasize collective over individual action since speech
in general is more likely to be the product of individuals.
– To ward off envy at his prominence.
• Yet, at the same time, he points to the importance of
speech.
– He turns his speech from a description of the immediate
actions of those who died to a consideration of the abstract
principles under which Athens lives.
– The great war heroes of Athens continue to honored today
only because of the work of great writers, such as
Thucydides.
Democratic Judgment and the
“Middling” Constitution - Aristotle
• The multitude does have some
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claims to rule.
Joined together, in certain
areas the multitude may have
more virtue than one excellent
man.
The many are good judges of
things such as music and
poetry. By looking at the areas
in which the multitude has the
advantage in judging one can
determine the areas in which
the multitude should have
authority.
Democratic Judgment and the
“Middling” Constitution - Aristotle
• Allowing the multitude to take the highest governing
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offices is unsafe, but depriving them of all authority
will surely lead to rebellion or at least serious factional
conflict.
Therefore the multitude should share in deliberating
and judging i.e. choosing officials and auditing them.
At the same time, however, it can be argued that
those who know how to rule are also those who have
the best knowledge of how to choose who should rule
(i.e. Plato’s ideals, is this democratic?)
Democratic Judgment and the
“Middling” Constitution - Aristotle
• “this is the political science of which the
good is justice, in other words, the common
interest."
• Justice is considered to be a certain sort of
equality, but what remains to be determined
is what sort of equality and equality in what
things
• The well-born, the free and the wealthy
deserve some sort of honor.
Democratic Judgment and the
“Middling” Constitution - Aristotle
• The virtue and vice of a city or regime can be
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examined much like the virtue or vice of an individual
Virtue is a mean and the happy life is one in
accordance with virtue.
There are three parts of each city: the very wealthy,
the very poor, and those in the middle.
Since the mean is the best, the middling element of
the city is the best part.
In a democracy the many are poor, in a polity the
many are in the middle
Democratic Judgment and the
“Middling” Constitution - Aristotle
• It is best if the citizens are equal and similar
persons, and this is the case with the
middling elements
• The best political partnership is therefore the
one that depends on the middling ground and
that a regime in which the middle element is
proportionately larger compared to other two
elements is the most capable of being wellgoverned
Democratic Judgment and the
“Middling” Constitution - Aristotle
• The middling element does not engage in
factional conflict, and therefore cities with
a larger middling element are more stable
• The best legislators come from among
the middling element
• Is this true today?