Certainly if the citizens were not educated. Do you see the internet as a threat to the republic? I mean, as in tyranny of the uneducated? Everyone has a voice now potentially. I'm just curious if there is a way we could get to the point where a true democracy would actually be preferrable, since we're already at the point where the representation is breaking down.
I see the United States as an oligarchy, not a republic, because the requirement to "represent" is mass wealth (either your own or a Super PAC's). I do think the internet is a threat, but more so to the standing elite; Congress has repeatedly attempted to limit, distort and control it via dead-on-arrival legislation.
The internet could potentially "educate" the masses, and it has an untapped potential of mass co-operation that "the people" have only scratched the surface of . . . But here's where it gets a bit tricky. The US system essentially filters the popular will at three levels: local, state and federal. That's by design. I don't think we'd ever see a tyranny of the masses.
What I would like to see, however, is a congress being balanced more directly by the popular will, and I think the Internet could be pivotal in that if Millennials and Gen Z got VERY organized.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I also see it as an oligarchy, but I'm wondering about the nature of the oligarchs a lot of the time. I often wonder if we are mistaken to be paranoid about it, and actually pronoia might be more appropriate. I am not anti-oligarch at this point in time (at least not all of them.) It's possible though that they might be more egalitarian than we think, in a sort of long process kind of way.
Just something I've been thinking about. Thanks so much for the pleasant conversation. There's not enough of that on here, IMO.
Enjoyed this piece. Does your subtitle imply that Western forms of government are per se bad? I would disagree with that because
I find great wisdom and beauty in the US Constitution - primarily because its drafters understood human nature as fixed and that it was therefore wise and necessary to divide power both vertically through federalism and horizontally between branches. This slows down the pace of inevitable destruction of the republic. So when our government devolves into oligarchy and one for of tyranny or another, this has more to do with immoral men than fundamental flaws in a brilliant system. Franklin's line - something like "a Republic madame, if we can keep it" comes to mind.
So I blame people like Joe Biden when we turn ourselves into a polyglot dystopian shit hole, not the Constitution, which wisely set us up as a constitutionally limited representative democratic Republic.
That's my two cents anyway! Happy New Year. Look forward to more longform articles.
Thanks. Subtitle is meant to say that all Western Liberal Democracies, according to Aristotle's scheme, are necessarily Oligarchies because they are a rule by the few who are rich. Oligarchy is the "bad" form of Aristocracy. The ancient Greeks would not view "representative" democracies or "representative" republics as valid categories; they'd just see them as either Aristocracies or Oligarchies (because the "representatives" would be--and currently are--staffed by elites, not the common population).
Oligarchy w/democratic dressing is about right. What’s missing in the description is Plato’s Cave. We seem to be in the darkest part, where we think we have answers.
all awakenings are good awakenings, DJ. Ask yourself this, go back to some of those classrooms, think about all of your classmates. How many of them do you think are going through your process? Your doing yourself a great favor by becoming an actual critical thinker.
Great piece.
Do you think the founding fathers had in mind a day when an actual democracy would exist in the U.S.?
Yes, but they seemed to view Democracy as a “bad ending” to the United States and wanted to prevent it.
Certainly if the citizens were not educated. Do you see the internet as a threat to the republic? I mean, as in tyranny of the uneducated? Everyone has a voice now potentially. I'm just curious if there is a way we could get to the point where a true democracy would actually be preferrable, since we're already at the point where the representation is breaking down.
I see the United States as an oligarchy, not a republic, because the requirement to "represent" is mass wealth (either your own or a Super PAC's). I do think the internet is a threat, but more so to the standing elite; Congress has repeatedly attempted to limit, distort and control it via dead-on-arrival legislation.
The internet could potentially "educate" the masses, and it has an untapped potential of mass co-operation that "the people" have only scratched the surface of . . . But here's where it gets a bit tricky. The US system essentially filters the popular will at three levels: local, state and federal. That's by design. I don't think we'd ever see a tyranny of the masses.
What I would like to see, however, is a congress being balanced more directly by the popular will, and I think the Internet could be pivotal in that if Millennials and Gen Z got VERY organized.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I also see it as an oligarchy, but I'm wondering about the nature of the oligarchs a lot of the time. I often wonder if we are mistaken to be paranoid about it, and actually pronoia might be more appropriate. I am not anti-oligarch at this point in time (at least not all of them.) It's possible though that they might be more egalitarian than we think, in a sort of long process kind of way.
Just something I've been thinking about. Thanks so much for the pleasant conversation. There's not enough of that on here, IMO.
Enjoyed this piece. Does your subtitle imply that Western forms of government are per se bad? I would disagree with that because
I find great wisdom and beauty in the US Constitution - primarily because its drafters understood human nature as fixed and that it was therefore wise and necessary to divide power both vertically through federalism and horizontally between branches. This slows down the pace of inevitable destruction of the republic. So when our government devolves into oligarchy and one for of tyranny or another, this has more to do with immoral men than fundamental flaws in a brilliant system. Franklin's line - something like "a Republic madame, if we can keep it" comes to mind.
So I blame people like Joe Biden when we turn ourselves into a polyglot dystopian shit hole, not the Constitution, which wisely set us up as a constitutionally limited representative democratic Republic.
That's my two cents anyway! Happy New Year. Look forward to more longform articles.
Thanks. Subtitle is meant to say that all Western Liberal Democracies, according to Aristotle's scheme, are necessarily Oligarchies because they are a rule by the few who are rich. Oligarchy is the "bad" form of Aristocracy. The ancient Greeks would not view "representative" democracies or "representative" republics as valid categories; they'd just see them as either Aristocracies or Oligarchies (because the "representatives" would be--and currently are--staffed by elites, not the common population).
This was a critically exciting read. I reckon I’ll come back again and give it another read.
Well done!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave
Oligarchy w/democratic dressing is about right. What’s missing in the description is Plato’s Cave. We seem to be in the darkest part, where we think we have answers.
all awakenings are good awakenings, DJ. Ask yourself this, go back to some of those classrooms, think about all of your classmates. How many of them do you think are going through your process? Your doing yourself a great favor by becoming an actual critical thinker.
good write up.