Democracy is a term the modern world equates with freedom and justice, we use it hand-in-hand with equality and everything we consider “good” in our world. This is possibly the most ignorant and dangerous notion of the western world since the rise of fascism in Europe. Democracy is not and has never been a just or free system of government; it is instead exactly what it says, “Rule of the people” or in other words the tyranny of the fifty one percent.

Now let me make one traditionally unpopular point (whose unpopularity makes it no less true). “The People”, or the mass of average every day voters who govern our society from their ballot boxes, are not generals, they are not accountants nor economists, and they certainly are not diplomats. Why then do we let ourselves be ruled by a vast mob of amateurs at nation ruling? The answer is an over attachment and romantic notion of what most men believe to be the views of our founding fathers. The average American believes that the founding fathers themselves wanted a democracy of the people for their fledgling nation but this was not the case: instead they wished to create a republic, a nation where every man works for the good of the state and is governed by intelligent men in much the same way as they pictured the Roman Republic to have been (Chu).

Many of the American founding fathers had sharp criticisms of democracy – a system of government considered all but dead since ancient times. Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the most educated and cultured of the founding fathers said, “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!” (qtd. in Chu). Franklin was not completely opposed to the idea of democracy but he did see that without the temperance of liberty it would become a tyranny like any other government. Likewise Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and the 3^rd US President, said, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine” (qtd. in Chu).

Even in what is considered the basis for modern US democratic dialogue, the American Constitution, there isn’t a single reference to democracy and instead it “stipulates that ‘The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government’”(Chu). The views of the founding fathers on democracy are perhaps best put by the son of a high-ranking Taiwanese diplomat and contributor to LewRockwell.com, Bevin Chu who says, “The Founding Fathers considered the distinction between a democracy and a republic to be the distinction between freedom and slavery, between civilization and barbarism, between prosperity and poverty” (Chu).

Now without the idealization often draped over democracy let’s take a look at what it has truly done for the modern world. While it can be argued that democracy has created the environment necessary for the creative and industrial boom of the western world I would refute this by comparing it to the even greater cultural revolution of the Renaissance in Republican Florence and Venice or the golden age of Imperial Rome. What democracy has done is enable the rise of tyrants and dictators such as Adolph Hitler and Bashar Al-Assad.

To portray the faults of democracy I like the anecdote used in Mary Renault’s historical novel The Last of the Wine which is a conversation between two Athenian lovers, Alexias and Lysis, both students of Socrates. Lysis starts off the dialogue by questioning his lover,

“Tell me, is it better for all the citizens to be unjust, or only a few?” – “A few surely, Lysis.”– “Is it better to suffer evil, or to do it?” – “Sokrates says to do it is worse.” – “Then an unjust democracy must be worse than an unjust oligarchy, mustn’t it?” I thought it over. “What is democracy, Lysis?” – “It is what it says, the rule of the people. It is as good as the people are, or as bad.” (Renault)

This narrative brings into question not only the logical implications but also the philosophy of democracy. If the human race must be ruled by tyranny is it not better that only a handful of evil men govern us rather than a horde?

More proof of democracies failures are found in recent world events such as the Egyptian Arab Spring or the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The former has shown modern society (which has so quickly forgotten the lessons of a pre-Cold War world) that democracy is not universally a positive thing with the election of Islamist Mohamed Morsi. Many simply take it for granted that democratically elected leaders will be democratically inclined when this has been proven to be false time and time again (Fish). The case of Ukraine shows that democracy doesn’t take the best route for humanity but instead enables corruption and breeds political fracturing and extremism (“What’s Gone Wrong with Democracy”).

Next I turn to China. China is ruled by a Communist elite and the western world views their government as oppressive and controlling, a view which is not inaccurate but it’s best to look at the whole picture before labeling the Chinese as tyrants and Americans as upholding freedom. “The Chinese elite argue that their model—tight control by the Communist Party, coupled with a relentless effort to recruit talented people into its upper ranks—is more efficient than democracy and less susceptible to gridlock” (“What’s Gone Wrong with Democracy”). Is it not more helpful to the human race as a whole to uplift our best and brightest while avoiding the gridlock and tit-for-tatting of American democracy? This effectiveness of a “rule by the few” is shown in a 2013 Pew Survey of Global Attitudes which, “showed that 85% of Chinese were “very satisfied” with their country’s direction, compared with 31% of Americans” (“What’s Gone Wrong with Democracy”). This is no surprise to those who watch what China is doing to modernize and get ahead of the western world. Among Asian nations it has given pause to those who would pursue democracy when they see that “India’s chaotic democracy produces rotten infrastructure while China’s authoritarian system produces highways, gleaming airports and high-speed trains” (“What’s Gone Wrong with Democracy”). While the people of China may not be happy with their system of government as a whole it’s perks and strengths are undeniable.

Another problem with democracy is as old as the form of government itself. While citizens of a democratic nation are noted for their reluctance to go to war they are also easily riled into a blood-frenzy and quick to blame any party for their misfortune. The leaders of democratic nations are also quick to use the “upholding liberty” mantra when it suits their foreign interests. As such democracy is often a fig leaf of imperialism of all sorts, from the US War in Iraq all the way back to the Delian League of Athens (“What’s Gone Wrong with Democracy”).

In an ideal world where the people and leaders of humanity are educated, compassionate, and brave maybe democracy would be the best form of government. We don’t live in that world. We live in the world where the man credited with saving England during World War II, Winston Churchill says of his own people, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter” (qtd. in Chu). So I would like to end with another anecdote which sums up the tragic flaw of democracy.

During an interview with BBC for a series of programs and films titled “Why Democracy?” Stanley Fish was asked ten questions about democracy. “The final question put to me was, ‘Whom would you vote for as President of the World?’ I know whom I’d like to vote for. Someone wise, learned, strong, courageous, compassionate, authoritative, incorruptible, inspiring, capable and good-looking. No one living (or dead) came to mind, so I settled for a fictional character, Atticus Finch” (Fish)

 

WORKS CITED

Chu, Bevin. “Democracy, the Worst Form of Government Ever Tried.”LewRockwell. LewRockwell.com, 31 Aug. 2005. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

“Democracy.” The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Fish, Stanley. “Why Democracy?” Opinionator. New York Times, 7 Oct. 2007. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

Plato. The Republic. Trans. Desmond Lee. London: Penguin, 1955. Print.

Renault, Mary. The Last of the Wine. New York: Vintage, 1975. Print.