In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the
University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the
Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always
temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent
form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until
the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous
gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority
always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from
the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a
dictatorship."
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the
beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200
years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
Feudal cultures have existed much longer than 200 years.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy thus far, has been a failed theory of "self rule" and has tended to fail because it presupposes equality of authority for all members of the culture. However, whenever a society becomes confident in its ability to effect positive change it elevates SOME members of the culture to positions of greater authority so that everyone else can focus on more menial tasks such as supporting an economy. Anytime any culture divides itself into classes the entire culture suffers.
Democracy cannot be a goal for an already flawed society because it demands too much from each member of the culture. The most successful societies have always relied on trust between all members of the community, not a theoretical idea or reliance on some outside resource.
The allure of democracy, equality for all, will always be a "red herring" so long as a society chooses to place it's members in any substandard position.
Similarly, the bicameral form of government in the USA (developed in ancient Greece) is doomed to fail because one "house" of the government attempts to represent every citizen ("House of Representatives") while the other ("Senate") represents only special interests. That is precisely the reason our constitution created two additional authorities, the Judiciary (to ensure legal precedence) and the Executive (to execute law and policy). Unfortunately over the years, the Judiciary is now populated according to party affiliation and the Executive branch is the most senior representative of the most popular political party. This scenario has evolved into a "double check mate" situation where nothing can be accomplished.
Even worse is the constitutional mandate that only two political parties are permitted to participate in governance; Republicans ("government OF the people") and Democrats ("government BY the people"). Without any legal alternative either of these choices can cause chaos and have, many times.
In the U.S. (and several other nations) additional political parties must be permitted if those political systems are to survive.
Salvaging democracy sounds like a noble goal but it won't solve a disenfranchised society. Only trust and respect can mend a broken community.
Jikiri,
ReplyDeleteThank you for providing the "Fix America" blog!
Please promote the site because we need an avenue to release pent-up anguish and communicate ideas about how to get back to a sane existence.