cycle of democracy and tyranny

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And while each new phase gives another round of hope, history doesn’t show us many peaceful ends to tyranny (outside our American revolution). The philosopher knows greed, they known honor, they know sensual vices, they know vices of wealth, but for them truth is the highest good and happiness (they have been trained for this and are naturally this way). Profligates are usually more popular than misers. There is real danger in extremes. The point is balance is key in all aspects of life, and the state is no exception. This is Marx in action, this is a faction within the proletariat rising up against the elite class under the banner of an elite who turns against the bourgeoisie “establishment”. Valuing lower order vices is a slippery slope. The key to understanding this is understanding that democracy and oligarchy both breed the vice of excess “greed” in people because democracy is too liberal and equal (which allows for the vice of excess due to its lack of restraints), and oligarchy is based on the accumulation of wealth and power (it is too focused on the vice of excess). It is not “life cycle of democracy“. When a democracy which is thirsting for freedom has evil cupbearers presiding over the feast, and has drunk too deeply of the strong wine of freedom, then, unless her rulers are very amenable and give a plentiful draught, she calls them to account and punishes them, and says that they are cursed oligarchs. and Other Greek Philosophers, Types of Governments. Their rule and decision-making is guided by honor. (One should not be surprised if an opera house that rejects a 4-foot tall Bambuti singer for the role of Siegfried in Wagner’s “Ring” is accused of racism!). Things don’t have to be “inevitable”. People become excessively free and equal in a democracy, they grow accustomed to the liberty. The philosopher who should have ruled is laughed at for valuing truth more than money and pleasures, the man who is full of vice is looked at through these metaphorical “beer googles”. Literally, that is all there is to it. Thus, any reading of a summary of the theory should really be paired with at least a quick skim of those books and a close reading of Republic Book VIII and Book IX. Here our focus is to introduce the basics pertaining to how Democracy becomes Tyranny, not to summarize every aspect of Plato’s work pertaining to the ideal soul/city/class system etc. Some conspiracy theories believe 911 was a US UK self inflicted attack to justify invasion of Afghanistan, followed by "weapons of mass destruction" to invade Iraq during this recent cycle. Oligarchy and Democracy do not do this! Tocqueville, a genuine liberal and legitimist, had gone to America not only because he was concerned with trends in the United States, but also on account of the electoral victory of Andrew Jackson, the first Democrat in the White House and the man who introduced the highly democratic Spoils System, a genuine invitation to corruption. The inequality frustrates a faction within the whole body politic. Like we ideally want to be happy, we ideally want a happy state… thus we must take care not to create a tyrannical state. We know people are naturally greedy, but for Plato, it is the “producer” class (not everyone) that is meant to have the mantra “Greed is Good”. As you have likely picked up on already, this theory of how democracy becomes tyranny (and how oligarchy does too) isn’t meant to be understood in isolation. Because of the excesses of the ruler, the tyranny is overthrown by the leading citizens of the state who set up an aristocracy. Socialism, whether national or international, will act in the name of “distributive justice,” as well as “social justice” and “progress,” and thus gain popularity. Thanks for catching those. more information Accept. A person doesn’t repress their animal nature, their lust, their greed, etc, they simply keep it in check and don’t let it steer the ship by using their human reason (metaphorically speaking, their Aristocracy; their wisdom) and human will (metaphorically speaking, their Timocracy; their discipline)! and Other Greek Philosophers, our American Republic was constructed as a safeguard against tyranny, Plato: The Republic – Book 8 Summary and Analysis, Plato: The Republic – Book 9 Summary and Analysis, Democrats and Republicans got their names from the Greeks, but their modern ruling style in practice has little to nothing to do with the conversation, we live in a state that is becoming increasingly democratic and oligarchical despite its Republican roots, to understand why our American founders weren’t just being cute when they created a Republic, the government types defined by Plato and Aristotle, a popular state-based “winner-take-all” voting system that favors the minority, a mixed-Republic that allows for both oligarchs and democracy due to its liberal and democratic values, the early socialist aspects of the NAZI platform, a government like a Democracy can be corrupted by extreme equality and extreme inequality and collapse into a tyrannical government, The Republic by Plato – Book VIII – Part 1 of 2. …Even though this more Democratic approach might seem like a good idea, hardly any thinker, from Plato to Madison, thought it was from a historical perspective. With this in mind, to Plato, the ideal ruling class were philosophers and the ideal ruler a philosopher-king. Tyranny is a kind of monarchy which has in view the interest of the monarch only; oligarchy has in view the interest of the wealthy; democracy, of the needy: none of them the common good of all. Democracy is dead. The tyranny would evolve from the very character of even a liberal democracy because there is, from the beginning on, a worm in the apple: freedom and equality do not mix, they practically exclude each other. Needless to say that this verbal policy continues in the “German Democratic Republic” where we see a “People’s Police,” a “People’s Army,” while Moscow’s satellite states are called “People’s Democracies.”, All this implies that in earlier times only the elites had a chance to govern and that now, at long last, the common man is the master of his destiny able to enjoy the good things in life! The ideal state from Plato’s Republic using 8-bit. and how does he live, in happiness or in misery?” – Book IX. Yet, within the democratic and constitutional framework, the National Socialists were bound to win. Greatness is earned, and it is only equatable to wealth for the producer class, greatness of a solider or a politician is a thing of honor or virtue, not wealth. tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to; and this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private, separate advantage. The content of this website is provided for informational purposes only. This process can be much more paralyzing than a mere personal dictatorship, military or otherwise, without an ideological and totalitarian character. If and when the war is won, and all opponents crushed, do those who are left really think they won’t be next? Plato believed that the key and driving feature of democracy is desire for freedom; this very trait, though, ultimately leads a state to tyranny. This happened in Germany in 1932 when no less than 60 per cent of the electorate voted for totalitarian despotism: for every two National Socialists there was one international socialist in the form of a Marxist Communist, and another one in the form of a somewhat less Marxist Social Democrat. Aristotle. You don’t repress the Oligarchy, you put restraints on it. The popular pastime of modern democracies of punishing the diligent and thrifty, while re warding the lazy, improvident, and unthrifty, is cultivated via the State, fulfilling a demo-egali-tarian program based on a demo-totalitarian ideology. Instead, these forms actually incentivize greed and fail to imbue virtues of moderation and truth seeking in their people and thus they begin the slippery slope toward the rise of a tyrant (explained in more detailed below). For Plato, the Republic does a much better job of allowing this state of true liberty and equality to thrive. But Trump is not the main story. This means that an absolute monarchy could be liberal (but hardly democratic) and a democracy could be totalitarian, illiberal, and tyrannical, with a majority brutally persecuting minorities. Monarchy - rule by an individual who had inherited his role. Democracy soon becomes corrupt and degenerates into mob rule, beginning the cycle anew. The National Socialist Workers’ Party was “a popular movement based on exact science” (Hitler’s words), militating against the hated few: the Jews, the nobility, the rich, the clergy, the modern artists, the “intellectuals,” categories frequently overlapping, and finally against the mentally handicapped and the Gypsies. 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