Democracy and Plato

Brown's election in Mass combined with President Obama's rapidly tanking approval ratings aren't a win for anybody. It's merely a sign, albeit a very LARGE sigh, that the voters are dissatisfied.

Dissatisfaction and a desire for change is how President Obama got elected. Dissatisfaction is how we have spent our future into oblivion. Dissatisfaction and the costs of Unions is why China (and the unions) own GM. Politics is why Union members now own a large share of GM and may enjoy a 40% reduction in their healthcare costs that you and I DON'T GET. The fox isn't in the henhouse, it owns the henhouse.

In my opinion, the Republican party has managed to squander previous opportunities. Unfortunately, both parties seem to only focus on getting re-elected and consider that a win. From that point forward, it's "business as usual," which means posturing, complaining and primping, then getting re-elected!

Are we as a country intelligent enough to DEMAND an end to this revolving door of CRAP Politics and politicians? I hope so, but don't see any evidence yet. Up to this point the voters are behaving like spoiled children throwing tantrums when they don't like the flavor of the ice cream they have requested.

Plato lays great stress on the disciplining function of reason. Without the self-discipline imposed by reason a person may easily turn into something like a self-destructive glutton, or into a person carried away by foolish emotions and thoughtless ambitions. Informed reason, according to Plato, is the faculty best suited to make all the right and necessary decisions in a person’s life.

Plato compares the state to an elaborate and expensive ship. A ship, to accomplish a safe and successful journey, needs an expert navigator at the helm, a captain who knows the capacities of the vessel, geography, meteorology, water currents, navigational astronomy, supplies management, and other related matters. An ignorant and untrained person at the helm of a ship would endanger vessel, cargo, crew, and passengers alike. Similarly, Plato suggests, the ship of state needs expert governors at the helm, governors who are well informed about such things as law, economics, sociology, military strategy, history, and other relevant subjects. Ignorant and incompetent governors can be and have been disasters for citizens and states.

Democratic self-government does not work, according to Plato, because ordinary people have not learned how to run the ship of state. They are not familiar enough with such things as economics, military strategy, conditions in other countries, or the confusing intricacies of law and ethics. In their ignorance they tend to vote for politicians who beguile them with appearances and nebulous talk, and they inevitably find themselves at the mercy of administrations and conditions over which they have no control because they do not understand what is happening around them.