Why Government Needs to be Better Than the People

The truth is, Democracy is not God-given. Neither is it inevitable, “normal” or required.

Democracy is, like all other human ideas, just that — an idea. And as such, its value can rise and fall. Strangely, perhaps, many well-known Ancient Greeks who were, after all, the people most associated with Democracy’s birth, were very sceptical of it.

Why?

Take Socrates, for example. In Book Six of The Republic, Plato has him discussing democracy with Adeimantus. Socrates makes the point that if you were heading out to sea, who would you want in command of the ship? A sea captain or just about anybody? Exactly. That is the problem with democracy.

This is also well illustrated by Brexit, and any number of elections where people have shot themselves — and often the global community — in the foot. In the Brexit example, the referendum voted on in 2016 posited a simple choice. European Union: In or Out? People did what people do — they voted with their gut. But guts have no data. Guts are unable to determine what the socio-economic and political consequences of Brexit will be. Guts are only able to feel British. Or feel angry. Or feel afraid. And guts ferment the food we stuff into them, and turn it into crap. Out to sea they went, captained by a plumber.