BookRix

Ithaca, NY

Didn't Plato describe this very same cycle in 'The Republic'? He didn't have
much use for democracy (understandable, since the Athenian democracy voted to
condemn his mentor Socrates to death), and predicted it inevitably
deteriorates into chaos, after which the populace calls for a strongman to
restore order. (Unfortunately, his suggested best government - a benevolent
dictator philosopher-king - is even more of a pipe dream than an orderly,
functional democracy.)
The basis of democracy, that a rational, well-informed populace will elect the
best leaders to make good decisions, is a fine idea, but it awaits the
evolution of a higher being than this naked ape to implement it. Perhaps
whatever species supersedes ours will manage it. Maybe the logical,
dispassionate Vulcans could do it. But human nature as it stands, especially
in the aggregate, lacks the necessary intellect and rationality to make a
democratic nation work even internally, let alone interacting with other
nations and cultures. It's the proposition that if you gather a whole lot of
stupidity you can boil it down to a residuum of wisdom; that if you have
enough sow's ears you can stitch together a silk purse.

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