Democracy's Dangers & Discontents: The Tyranny of the Majority from the Greeks to Obama (Hoover Institution Press Publication (Hardcover))
Language: English
Pages: 205
ISBN: 0817917942
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
By democracy we usually mean a government comprising popular rule, individual human rights and freedom, and a free-market economy. Yet the flaws in traditional Athenian democracy can instruct us on the weaknesses of that first element of modern democracies shared with Athens: rule by all citizens equally. In Democracy’s Dangers & Discontents, Bruce Thornton discusses those criticisms first aired by ancient critics of Athenian democracy, then traces the historical process by which the Republic of the founders has evolved into something similar to ancient democracy, and finally argues for the relevance of those critiques to contemporary U.S. policy. He asserts that many of the problems we face today are the consequences of the increasing democratization of our government and that the flaws of democracy are unlikely to be corrected. He argues that these dangers and discontents do not have to end in soft despotism—that American democracy’s aptitude and strength can be recovered by restoring the limited government of the founders.
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As the perquisite of their status or class, the city-states of Greece predicated freedom on the political institutions and offices in which power resided: thus “the state is a community of freemen,” as Aristotle writes, with equal citizen access to the institutions of power.97 The Greeks explicitly defined themselves in terms of political freedom, in contrast to their non-Greek neighbors who lived in subjection to kings and various elites. The Persians, twice defeated in battle by the free.
Whether equals or betters, with a view to its own advantage, not to that of its subjects,” as Aristotle defined it.35 Such a description is consistent with the claim in the Declaration of Independence that British king George III’s “history of repeated injuries and usurpations” all had “in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these states.” Colonial Americans could find historical models of George III in the oppressive “tyrants” in Classical history and literature, and the.
The President as the unifying force in our complex system, the leader both of his party and of the nation.”35 Power concentrated in the federal government required a proactive, dynamic executive in order to create the national consensus necessary for reform. The Tools of Leviathan A powerful president overseeing an expansive federal government of agencies and commissions requires money to achieve his utopian aims. And in keeping with antidemocratic fears dating back to ancient Athens, revenue.
When the Government of the United States will be driven to the exercise of more arbitrary and unconsidered power, will be driven to greater concentration, will be driven to extend its functions into the internal affairs of the States.”39 But for Progressives, their belief in the “evolving” Constitution and their championing of the abstract “people” rendered this reservation anachronistic. More important to them was the need to remove the political structures such as federalism and the powers of.
Public Opinion (New York, 2002), 4, 5. 87. “Another Fiscal Flop,” January 1, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/opinion/brooks-another-fiscal-flop.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fDavid%20Brooks&_r=0. 88. Politics 1301a, trans. Jowett. 89. Democracy in America, vol. 1, 53; see also 201. 90. Madison 10, 44. 91. Politico, “President Obama on Inequality,” http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/obama-income-inequality-100662.html. 92. Kip Hagopian.