Paste your essay in here…The critiques and thoughts of Philosopher Plato on Democracy has brought the attention
and concern of political and philosophical scholars everywhere as Plato's work acts like a basis
for why and how American Democracy functions the way that it does.Acknowledging the flaws
of democracy overtime to predicting the kind of leader to arise from a democratic downfall,
Plato’s point of view successfully depicts the flaws in the kind of political landscape that we see
in the United States.
To determine if democracy is flawed, one must analyze Plato’s views of society and what
he believes it takes to achieve the most just form of government. Although Plato considers
democracy as the highest form of government It can still be just as flawed as the other types of
governments. In today’s world democracy is what is preached to the world because of freedom
and equality and nations are collectively trying to pursue it. One example from the text I can
reference is a conversation between Socrates and Admantis; ”Does Tyranny come from
Democracy in about the same manner Democracy from Oligarchy?” (Plato 562b). To which
Adeimantus replies “Yes”. To my understanding, this conversation makes an effort to convey the
pros and the cons in both oligarchy and democracy as they also share a common goal of
self-furtherment and also to maximize own personal profits. The constant greed and competitive
nature of democracy is what Plato would refer to as unjust. Many of these actions come via
political movements such as interest groups and PACs and super PACs with their constant
intervention in the political system by lobbying for more favorable laws towards their respective
agendas & any other means that they can benefit. I believe these actions put a blemish on the
true foundation of democracy, which is whole rightly for the people and the most just form of
government.It is the democracy that leads to tyranny Plato says, once these freedoms multiply
so great that actually leading to inequality. For example, once the wealthy are now elite than the
rest of the population this starts to cause friction in society consequently leading the people to
choose a leader out of desperation because the majority of parties do not represent the
continually multiplying opinions of the voters. This leader is nothing of what the democracy was
founded on in the first place and begins to rival and question his elites and the political
structures that they stand for. The limitless freedoms that transpired within the system of
democracy actually created more disagreements, causing the varied opinions of the voters to
settle and furthering divide exposing a cycle of degeneration as the main fundamental flaw of
democracy that Plato is referred to.
The criticisms from Plato as to why democracy is flawed are also applicable to the way
the United States’ democracy operates. In American democracy the many kinds of issues that
derive from within are sorted through political means. One example I can provide of this is
We can take a look at how congress members in the house of representatives address the
major problems that are facing the country, and on more of a critical level they attempt to
legislate and than work hand in hand with the senate to find a solution. Although this seemingly
efficient system was designed to be a working medium between the majority and minority, it
eventually becomes so flooded by the multitude of opinions that both the democratic and
republican party end up rejecting and manipulating the other parties’ proposed changes. This
constant tug of war exists between them in attempts for both to gain their freedoms; however,
what they tend to forget in this fight is that “once [youve] tasted freedom, [you] become drunk of
it.”(Plato) The ever-growing insatiable desires of these parties causes significant political divide
between spiting the other party as well as causing relevant collapse among the parties
internally, changing America into a “a many-colored cloak decorated in all hues.” (Plato557c).
This quote signifies the vast freedom that the democratic system grants can pertain a ton of
different variables. independent campaigns become so diverse that no longer will the
democratic process itself seem sufficient and negate the true fundamentals. One example I can
correlate to this notion is the debates and slander between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders
Whom both simultaneously ran for the the Democratic Party for the election in 2016. They
Had significantly different views of how the party should run the country and ran campaign ads
and advertisements running against one another even though they were In the same party. And
in the 2016 election the republican party’s Candidates seemingly despised each other and
viciously attacked one another because of how much they disagreed With one another's
policies. The neverending turmoil of this battle for freedoms becomes so complex that no one
ends up getting what they desire all at the cost of comprising social order.
From protests, riots, and blackmailing, the social structure and standard of which we
communicate dissipates into a chaos of disagreements that further divides the nation instead of
getting parties to compromise with one another. In this self-destructing war for freedoms, the
American democracy becomes susceptible to tyranny and inevitably gives rise to a ruler that will
“[take] over a particularly obedient mob” (565e) and will accuse these elite parties as corrupt.
The stage was set for Donald Trump to seize the trust of the people. When his hunger
grew for attacking the elites, they could do nothing but appease Trump because of the
bad rap he created about them. Betraying his class and demonstrating that he is not an
ordinary politician to gain trust,his new enemies had to flee or find a way to fit in with his
demands due to his new found power over the people. With all of the slander and hidden
purgatives to taken down either party made people distrust these old political systems and put
their faith into someone whose background had the least ties to the ‘corrupt’ government. Just
like socrates says, that it’s when these oligarchs rise they begin having “Impeachments,
judgments, and contests against one another.” (565c) Through all of the disputes, attacks, and
debates in the republican candidacy Donald Trump had to defeat one last politician to gain Full
power and presidency. He did so with actions that comply with his own political attitude,
accusing Hillary Clinton as untruthful and fake referring to her private email and server deleting
30000 emails, Funding the Steele approving the sale of uranium to Russia, etc.
After he has defeated his rivals, he now stands alone, as the
sole solution to end the incoherence in the American Democracy. The people never would have
imagined they would ever put this business ‘savant’, TV show star in power whose background
is completely irrelevant to politics. But through built up skepticism of the antics of Democratic
and Republican parties, these puzzled, confused and hedonistic citizens have settled for Trump
as an answer to the never-ending insecurities and choices provided by The American
Democracy. He believes he can be an act of expiation for the conflicts that internally collapse
the democracy while filling out his own personal agenda, revealing that “too much freedom
seems to change into nothing but too much slavery.”(plato) He promises at all costs he
will clean up the mess of the distraught democracy and demonstrate himself as some kind of
revolution that takes down the ‘lying’ elites. With these people now being forced to obide
they were forced to settle for, the degenerative nature of the American democracy
concludes and restarts.
To protect it self American democracy can ensure that special interest groups and other
lobbyists refrain from interfering in politics. In addition, we can also set term limits on senators
and congress members on the seats they hold so true democracy is preserved. One real world /
live example I can use is of minority leader Nancy Pelosi whose party is opposing her own
re-election because she’s held the seat for over a decade. Power must be truly put in the hands
of the people and corrupt power as Plato referred to can hurt democracy. The original
foundations and beliefs must be preserved if democracy is to.