The Athenian democracy would encourage merit in its traditional form and reward it with victory, glory, and immortality. Although the United States is an exception to this advantage because of the country’s status on the global stage, most nations who focus on a democracy avoid battles instead of chasing after them. But they surely reflected contemporary criticisms. He was descended, through his mother, from the powerful and historically influential Alcmaeonid family. Someone can turn in a ballot that is a straight-party ticket with no consideration about the individual views or needs. “Remember,” Will Rogers reportedly warned, “democracy never lasts long. Main fax: 202.862.7177, © 2021 American Enterprise Institute |. In this interview, Dr. Vergara discusses how we can implement real democracy, beginning at … People can choose to vote in whatever way their morality dictates. Every ballot is an opportunity to express one’s personal opinion. Finally, Pericles revels in the variety available to the citizens of Athens–an object of scorn to Plato, but another quality, we must remember, normally associated with aristocracy. These are the advantages and disadvantages of such a system to consider. In response to Sparta's request for help, Athens' leader Cimon led troops into Sparta. When leaders change in democracy, the checks and balances offered by this format make it possible to produce smooth transitions when power changes hands. Therefore, they were willing to run risks in its defense, make sacrifices on its behalf, and restrain their passions and desires to preserve it. A democracy transitions power smoothly while establishing legitimacy. That means there is always a certain level of uncertainty. A community won’t object over the failure of a tax levy for a swimming pool, but the judicial system might step in if the people vote to accept a local ordinance that allows slavery. The remains of the dead were left in a tent for three days so that offerings could be made. Pericles maintained that citizens are so much more aware of the value of democracy — and are willing to strive to preserve their freedom and democracy — if they involve themselves in matters of the state administration and legal system. No one wants to be stuck on the outside looking in when it comes to governing. The Spartans faced this fundamental problem of the polis in its sharpest form. Critics also saw it as a special failure of the Athenian constitution that it did not put a common stamp of virtue on all the citizens, as the Spartan constitution tried to do, and as many Greeks thought proper. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. ... if they lose, they claim that they were beaten by us in full strength. In fact, under Pericles, there were plenty of successful campaigns, a consolidating of the empire, and some charges laid against the Spartans towards whom Pericles urged war were exactly correct. American Enterprise Institute . Democracies give people a chance to become personally involved with their government. Even when that idea runs counter to what the majority wants or falls outside of an expected window of morality, there is an ability to express those ideas assuming that others are not hurt by such an effort. Many are now confronting long-suppressed ethnic divisions that threaten to destroy the needed unity and harmony. .he must support his unmarried sisters at home and explain to them why they are still spinsters, he must live without a wife at his fireside. Why Socrates Hated Democracy. Democracy is a system of government where the entire population or eligible members of the state have the opportunity to vote on issues directly or send someone that they elect to make those decisions on their behalf. It encourages centrism more than extremism. The newer image, provided by Sparta, took shape no earlier than the seventh century but immediately captured the imagination of many and continued to fascinate Greek thinkers for centuries. In this respect it was very much like Abraham Lincoln’s funeral oration at Gettysburg in 1863. That means there are fewer issues with violent rebellion within democratic societies as well. Least of all did it suit the open, democratic society that Athens had already become by the time Pericles was born. The polis was a political community and a sovereign entity competing in a world of similar communities. Democracy is one of the least cost-efficient forms of governing that exists today. .he may not wander about comfortably acting like someone with a clean reputation or else he is beaten by his betters. The Spartan way of life inspired admiration in many other Greeks, though none went so far as to adopt the Spartan system. Pericles took a different view: “We believe,” he said,that words are no barrier to deeds, but rather that harm comes from not taking instruction from discussion before the time has come for action. Since the time of Homer the Greek thirst for glory had centered on brave deeds in war: What would replace these in a world at peace? 1. Pericles Source: “Building Democracy,” Roger B. Beck et al., World History: Patterns of Interaction, McDougal Littell Selection from “The Funeral Oration of Pericles” recorded in History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Born to a powerful Athenian family, Pericles showed interest in philosophy and art even as a young man. The older ethical tradition came chiefly from the Homeric epic, where the esteemed values were those of heroic individuals. It was still open to each man to seek satisfaction in the pursuit of his own interests and those of his family, if necessary at the expense of the polis. Pericles' Funeral Oration by Philipp Foltz (1852) When the bodies had been buried, it was customary for some wise and prudent notable and chief person of the city, preeminent in honor and dignity, before all the people to make a prayer in praise of the dead, and after doing this, each one returned to his House. ‘To all,’ said Zeus; I should like them all to have a share; for cities cannot exist, if a few only share in the virtues, as in the arts. He believed that man’s capacities and desires could be fulfilled at the highest level only through participation in the life of a community governed by reasoned discussion and guided by intelligence. But modern democracies are also more remote and indirect, less “political” in the ancient understanding of the term. Conservatives in the United States would argue that it is challenging to vote for the average Democrat because of their views on abortion. Monarchy and different forms of despotism, on the other hand, have gone on for millennia. The hostile descriptions emphasize its excessive commitment to equality, complaining of the absurdity of distributing offices by lot and the evils of payment for public service, but even more of the flaws in the democratic principle itself. Above all, Pericles helped the Athenians to understand that their private needs, both moral and material, required the kind of community Athens had become. Older, better established democracies have the same needs if they are not to become the aimless, selfish, unstable, and doomed perversions of the Periclean vision described by Plato and Aristotle. It is clear that Pericles views democracy as the best form of government and having adopted it, he views Athens as superior to their fellow city states. Pericles therefore asserts that “we conduct our public life as free men [eleuthero.i]” (2.37.2). These facts were obvious to all and might be expected to deter aggression. Democracy is generally based on the rule of equality. They were a very small minority of the total population over which they ruled. In the 460s, the Helots rebelled against the Spartans who asked for help from Athens. The more immediate challenge to the democratic vision came from Sparta. That is why there is more loyalty and patriotism present in democracy. To me, at least, they still seem to indicate some of the important ways in which democracy is likely to go astray. It is especially bad in two-party systems, but this disadvantage is present in all democracies as well. He served as the 32nd President won a record four Presidential elections, becoming a central figure in the events that shaped the world during that time. Greeks deprived of the political life felt the loss keenly. Everyone contributes in their own way, which this governing structure celebrates. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”. In the real world, however, no one would adopt that demanding and perverse way of life except in the unique circumstances that brought it to Sparta. Sparta’s system appealed especially to aristocrats, such as the young men who conversed with Socrates in the gymnasia. In Pericles’s edition of democracy, it is freedom which is presented before all other things as the foundation of the democratic city-state – just as Plato also is pointing at and criticizes in the Republic. . Pericles (Greek: Περικλῆς, Periklēs, "surrounded by glory"; c. 495 – 429 BC) was the most prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. What exactly makes Athens so great?-since of democracy -equality -freedom that expands to everyday life Plato asserted that democracy unjustly “distributes a sort of equality to equal and unequal alike” (Republic 55C), and Aristotle later claimed that in democracies justice “is the enjoyment of arithmetical equality, and not the enjoyment of proportionate equality on the basis of merit” (Politics 1317b). There are times when a complete majority of a single party can win an election, but even then, there can be enough disagreement within the ranks that compromises must happen. An examination of the few successful democracies in history suggests that they need to meet three conditions if they are to flourish. On the contrary, we have forced every sea and land to become an entrance for our daring, and we have everywhere established permanent monuments of the harm we have done our enemies and the good we have done for our friends” (2.4l.4). Greek noblemen lived by the ideal of the accomplished amateur: good at a variety of skills–music, athletics, warfare, among others–but professionally devoted to none. 7. The poorest Athenian serving on a jury, voting in the assembly, or allotted to an office was thereby called upon to use his intelligence and experience on behalf of his polis. The United States uses a centralized form of governing, but there are equal powers distributed between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Centralized government structures can make declarations on rules, regulations, or responses that are not always possible in a democratic structure. Helicanus explains that Pericles has not spoken in three months, and Lysimachus says he knows someone in his city who may be able to make him talk. Xenophon gives a good example of the absence of any privacy in Sparta: “In other cities whenever a man shows himself to be a coward his only punishment is that he is called a coward. He was known for developing democracy in Athens by giving labor fees for the people working for the government (Littel, M.,2004). In the decade before 500 B.C., the Athenians established the world’s first democratic constitution. She has written an important book, Systemic Corruption: Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Republic, and says the U.S. is an “oligarchic democracy,” a system designed to serve some but not all. A democracy allows an individual to cast a vote either directly or through a preferred representative on the issues that the government must manage. In early Athens, as in most of the Greek cities, political participation came to represent a crucial distinction between a free man and gentleman on the one hand, and a slave or churl on the other. By sharing in the common responsibility he was able to develop powers and aspects of himself that allowed him to become more fully human than he could have on his own. His life has neither law nor order; and this distracted existence he terms joy and bliss and freedom; and so he goes on” (Republic 56lC). Because the government in a democracy is under the control of the people and their voice, then it is up to each individual to decide their fate. In some respects Pericles established an urban political machine in which poorer voters voted in massive numbers to support his political agendas because they stood to benefit directly from the results. A dynasty or tyranny or clique may be deposed, but it is invariably replaced by another or by a chaotic anarchy that ends in the establishment of some kind of command society. Athens has a strong military that is open to foreigners observing and learning from Athens, but will fight and attack enemies when necessary. Every individual has the right to enjoy and experience equal economic, political and social rights and the state is not allowed to discriminate citizens on the standard of sex, caste, property and religion. He acknowledges the bravery and military strength of the Spartans but argues that Athenians are just as brave and strong. But a free and democratic people, one not constantly fearful of deadly rebellions by furious helots, cannot simply be told permanently to subordinate their personal pursuits to the needs of society. For their food, the Spartans relied on the helots – slaves of the Spartan state who out-numbered the Spartans by at least seven to one, bitterly hated their masters, and, in the words of the fourth-century writer Xenophon “would gladly eat them raw” (Hellenica 3.3.6). Most of Pericles’ answers to these questions can be found in the Funeral Oration that he delivered in the winter of 431/30, less than two years before his death, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War. The structures of democracy are unique because they allow everyone to fight for the things that they want in life. Every branch of the government must agree on the process. 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