Plato, Power and the People

“And he had come to a bazaar of constitutions,” is the way Plato, in The Republic, sets about criticising democracy. In a way and in parts he is right. But Plato is earnestly set against democracy. As long as we do not think of it as necessarily the sort of constitution we have in the Western, so-called “democracies” then we may reject Plato’s ideas as the thoughts of a mind set in extreme conservatism and closed to any thought that “the people” are capable of ruling the state, let alone dealing with the complexities of legislation and taking public office.

In the vivid parable of “the ship” he goes further and is almost abusive concerning the people and the necessary factions and opinions current in any state where speech is free and free men and women have their say in the running of the nation or the city. For that is indeed what democracy is. It is the rule of the people, all the people, with everyone equal; an idea which is anathema to Plato and has been to conservatives and authoritarians since before and after his time.

In “the ship” the demos is likened to the master who is short sighted and partially deaf. Factions among the crew are constantly trying, by force or with the aid of drugs or drink, to overcome the master and to take over the helm. From there they go on what seems more like a drunken pleasure cruise than a proper trading voyage. (Bk.VI. P286)

There are uncomfortable truths set forth here which we ought to take to heart. Many people are misled by the political classes and by the factions and parties among them. Many people fail to consider rationally about how and for whom they are to cast their vote and would never think of going for office themselves. This is to be what the Athenians of Socrates’ and Plato’s time would have called an idiotees. That is someone unfit for the life of the state by lack of education or because of laziness. Our word “idiot” is derived from the Greek word, but the meaning has changed. Basically it means a “selfish person”.

Among the political classes, the factions and those who emerge to lead them, are often more motivated by the ambition for power than for the genuine well-being of the nation and of the people. Nor do these folk think that the ordinary people are capable of public service so they are often neglected, despised and made to make do with only a third rate education. The system, then, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where the political leaders and active members of the parties, see themselves, in Plato’s terms, as an elite, and the only ones who are capable of political leadership and power.