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The Platypus Reads Part XV



What do Thucydides and Xenophon have to tell us about democracy (it being an election year and all):

1. Democracy is not the opposite of tyranny. It is merely the tyranny of the majority.

2. Building off of #1, democracy often ends up being the rule of whatever elite can most effectively sway the majority. This leads to de facto aristocracies (ie. Bushes, Kennedys, Clintons).

3. Democracies tend to function by fomenting class envy and other forms of "us vs. them" thinking.

4. Building off of points 2 and 3, democracies tend to be guided by the passions of the many, and are thus highly inconsistent in their policy-making.

5. Following from point 4, democracies are much more likely to go to war than more conservative forms of government.

6. Again, following point 4, democracies most adept at short, concerted bursts of energy, and break down when it comes to the long haul.

None of this is to say that Thucydides and Xenophon are right in their observations. One must also remember that the democracy at Athens functioned differently from America's representative-democracy. Still, it seems worth considering.

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