Plato once said that "Democracy leads to despotism". Democracy is defined as "a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives". Despotism is defined as "the exercise of absolute power, esp. in a cruel and oppressive way" When looking deeper into what Plato was saying I firmly disagree with his statement. The two are completely different. A Democracy was created so that we wouldn't have things such as dictators and 'absolute power'. We learned that these forms of government didn’t work through trial and error. If Democracy lead to despotism the United States would have realized that it wasn’t affective. The United States would have created something in place of it that worked. The great thing about a democracy is that the people who make up the country get to come together as a whole to choose who they trust make all of their countries important decisions. Where as Plato is saying a democracy always leads to absolute power and dictatorship when its just the opposite.
I agree with your opinion. But, I don't agree with the fact that you said the U.S. government would have already deemed a democracy ineffective. Plato didnt say it will immediately lead to Despotism, he only said that it will at one point lead to despotism.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that we choose a leader to make the majority of choices is a key ingrediant towards despotism
ReplyDeleteJodi, I completely agree with you. If Plato said that democracy will eventually turn into despotism, how would that happen if a president can only hold office for four years? Plus, the people choose a leader who they think is the best fit, so why would that lead to despotism? We can basically take them out of power at any time, especially if they do something drastic that the population disagrees with.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tucker, because if unchecked a republic can lead to despotism.
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