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. -since of democracy -equality -freedom that expands to everyday life -live exactly as they please-thens submit to the laws and obey the public officials not because they have to, as in other cities, but because they want to. Then each community can make decisions with their voting power to overturn unwanted rules and regulations to evolve life over time. Each person can pursue their dreams, working to mold society in a vision that meets their expectations. To succeed, they need a vision of the future that is powerful enough to sustain them through bad times as well as good and to inspire the many difficult sacrifices that will be required of them. Facebook says that a few years ago, it was easier to say that social media was clearly positive for democracy. In the Athens of Pericles, however, the general prosperity and payment for public service gave the average man a degree of leisure unknown in other states. 1. Pericles defines the character of Athenian democracy, identifying features we might overlook. And after a life spent in what among our people passes for comfort, he died most gloriously. 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. The chance to speak brilliantly and with results in the public meeting was a gift given only by the polis, a way of winning kleos by the arts of speech. The average citizen could not look even to his polis for the satisfaction of his greatest spiritual needs. The Presidential elections every four years in the United States are measured in the billions. Instead, we put our trust not in secret weapons, but in our own courage when we are called upon to act. 1789 Massachusetts Avenue, NW This means that all members of a country or a state are equal in the eyes of law. We must remember that some classes of people in the U.S. have only had the right to vote for less than a century – including women. Centralized government structures can make declarations on rules, regulations, or responses that are not always possible in a democratic structure. The Athenians gave him a public burial on the spot where he fell [only the men who died at Marathon received the same extraordinary honor] (1.30). Democracy was more immediate and direct in the Greek context, with the relatively smaller population better able to meet to debate and decide issues and so to have a clearer tie to the democratic process. It limited the scope and power of the state, leaving enough space for individual freedom, privacy, and the human dignity of which they are a crucial part. It is a governing structure where rule comes from the people instead of the military or state. With brilliant brevity Lincoln answered some questions by pointing to the greatness of the cause at issue. In the growth of democracy, the Athenian ideal in politics is defined largely by the role of good democracy and the proponents of democracy. This new faith will be especially hard to instill in societies that have learned to be cynical about the use of political idealism. Pericles also tried to minimize the advantages of Sparta by rebuilding the walls of Athens, which, it has been suggested, radically altered the use of force in Greek international relations. Solon, an Athenian lawmaker of the early sixth century, went further, arguing that a well-governed polis was the best defense against injustice, faction, and turmoil: “It makes all things wise and perfect in the world of men.”. In essence, radical democracy marked the outcome of a logical progression in Athenian political thought. The structure of democracy makes it possible for everyone to come together in a way that forms society in ways that are helpful for virtually all people. When there is an incentive to offer everything without the requirement to fulfill your word, then you’ll see more lies than truth in the daily conversations about governing that occur. 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. No one wants to be stuck on the outside looking in when it comes to governing. In the opening scene of the Iliad, Achilles’ honor and reputation are diminished by Agamemnon’s arrogance, so he retires from the battle and sulks in his tent while the Greeks suffer a series of costly defeats. By winning an election, it becomes possible to establish legitimacy for political candidates or referendums that other forms of governing cannot provide. A democracy encourages equality in a positive way. Sparta’s system appealed especially to aristocrats, such as the young men who conversed with Socrates in the gymnasia. In the 460s, the Helots rebelled against the Spartans who asked for help from Athens. Democracy’s critics also pointed to a perverted individualism that was called liberty but was really license and lawlessness. The Athenian democracy would encourage merit in its traditional form and reward it with victory, glory, and immortality. The older ethical tradition came chiefly from the Homeric epic, where the esteemed values were those of heroic individuals. Republicans in Congress refused to even hold hearings with his nominee because of the upcoming election, which President Trump eventually won. His achievements included the construction of the Acropolis, begun in … An examination of the few successful democracies in history suggests that they need to meet three conditions if they are to flourish. There is more consistency available in democracy than other government structures. 1. ‘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. If they ever failed in some attempt, they were determined that, at least, their city should not be deprived of their courage [arete] and gave her the most beautiful of all offerings. Welcome as this prospect was, it nonetheless presented a problem. To the Athenians their democracy was height of civilized rule and order. What exactly makes Athens so great?-since of democracy -equality -freedom that expands to everyday life The highest reward is the kind of immortality that was once reserved for epic heroes but which now has come to the Athenian soldiers who have died in the service of their city, and which Pericles urges the living to earn for themselves: “They gave their lives for the common good and thereby won for themselves the praise that never grows old and the most distinguished of all graves, not those in which they lie, but where their glory remains in eternal memory, always there at the right time to inspire speech and action. It is especially bad in two-party systems, but this disadvantage is present in all democracies as well. The Spartans sent them back, probably fearing the effects of Athenian democratic ideas on their own government. In the process, he presented his vision for Athens and the kind of citizen its unique constitution and way of life would produce. They excluded money, the arts and sciences, philosophy, aesthetic pleasures, and the life of the mind in general, for all these things might foster individualism and detract from devotion to the polis. Those who wish to help them grow and flourish, as well as those who worry for the future of the older democracies, troubled again, strangely enough, by a growing allegiance to family, tribe, and clan at the expense of the commonwealth, could do worse than to turn for inspiration and instruction to the story of Pericles of Athens and his city, where once, against all odds, a noble democracy triumphed. 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. People are migrating toward neighborhoods, employment opportunities, and even relationships based on how comfortable they are around other people. 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. 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. At an early date they had abandoned the normal means whereby men provide for themselves and their families, including all economic activity: farming, pasturing, trade, craft, and industry. That is why the gross domestic product of a country which features constitutional arrangements is typically larger. Pericles was born c. 495 BC, in Athens, Greece. .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. 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). These solemn commemorations, apparently unique to the Athenian democracy, had a political dimension, for the speaker was someone “chosen by the polis as the man who seemed wisest in judgment and foremost in reputation” (Thucydides 2.34.6). Democracy is generally based on the rule of equality. The new and emerging democracies of our time are very fragile, and they all face serious challenges. . There are fewer coup attempts within this governing structure as well. But we have these speeches because Thucydides reported them, and his subject was war. By recognizing only individuals, not separate groups, its laws preserved the unity needed by all healthy societies and avoided the shattering rivalries that destroy them. Elections usually involve the opinions or thoughts of each person based on what individuals want for themselves. The satisfaction of these passions normally implies extraordinary inequality; yet Pericles believed it could be achieved by the citizens of a democracy based on legal and political equality. At times, the third qualification is the most important and can compensate for weaknesses in the other two. The Athenians excluded women, children, resident aliens, and slaves from political life, but the principle of equality within the political community that they invented was the seed of the modern idea of universal egalitarianism that flowered during the French Enlightenment. Death is the end; beyond it is silence and darkness. Their national poet, Tyrtaeus, specifically rejected the Homeric values and replaced them with a single definition of arete: the courage to stand bravely in the ranks of a hoplite phalanx fighting for Sparta. Some key developments in the growth of democracy in Athens: Draco – rules in 620 BCE The advantages and disadvantages of democracy are essential to review because any governing structure can be abused under the right set of circumstances. Even a local election for city council, mayor, or a school board can cost six figures. Optimists may believe that democracy is the inevitable and final form of human society, but the historical record shows that up to now it has been the rare exception. His father, Xanthippus (c. 525-475 BCE) was a respected politician and war hero and his mother, Agariste, a member of the powerful and influential Alcmaeonidae family who encouraged the early development of Athenian democracy.Pericles’ family's nobility, prestige, and wealth allowed him to pursue his inclination toward educati… The older was the aristocratic image that emerged from the epic poems of Homer and dominated Greek society for hundreds of years. . More fully, and therefore at greater length, Pericles did the same thing. Most people work to retain what they have after it is earned. He met both challenges by adapting the first to his own purposes and by rejecting the latter as inferior to the new society he had introduced in Athens. In a democracy, citizens behave lawfully while doing what they like without fear of prying eyes. And we decide public questions ourselves, or at least come to a sound understanding of them” (2.40.2). Pericles’ Funeral Speech Athens democracy has some evident differences of its own system compared to Sparta’s. This arrangement can take different styles, but the result is generally the same. When people are voting based on personal interests, then it creates discontent in society because it feels like the majority tries to suppress the minority. With a fleet that commanded the seas, the guaranteed revenues needed to support its navy and provide supplies against any siege, and a city and port defended by impregnable walls, Athens had achieved unprecedented security. Greeks deprived of the political life felt the loss keenly. The views on the relative advantages and disadvantages of Athenian democracy vary greatly in the two primary documents. 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. “Remember,” Will Rogers reportedly warned, “democracy never lasts long. It says some 85,000 “common” English words have Greek origins.) The United States uses a centralized form of governing, but there are equal powers distributed between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Pericles’ long tenure as a political leader, more than thirty years, permitted him to aim at goals that went far beyond the immediate concerns that fully occupy most politicians and statesmen. “Because you can’t have five wolves and one sheep voting on what they should all be having for supper.”. Decisions must route through various legislative bodies or the people, which reduces the pursuit of war on a whim. Nonetheless, some women, known as hetaeras, did receive an education with the specific purpose of entertaining men, similar to the Japanese geisha tradition. They must see that democracy alone of all regimes respects the dignity and autonomy of every individual, and understand that its survival requires that each individual see his own well-being as inextricably connected to that of the whole community. The world has been astounded to see thin shoots of democracy trying to break through the hard surface of oppression. We have dealt with issues like slavery, discrimination, and gender inequality in the past because the perspective of the those with the most votes say that society deserves to have those elements. The Athenian democracy, Pericles asserts, far from reducing all to a low common level, raises all its citizens to the level of noblemen by asking them to take part in political life and so to control their own destiny. The more immediate challenge to the democratic vision came from Sparta. Once that person gets into office, there are fewer controls in place to recall that person if they do not accurately represent what their community wants. Franklin D. Roosevelt served in office from March 1933 to April 1945. In the few of his speeches we have, Pericles spoke chiefly of the empire and military glory, and these were certainly important values to him and the Athenians. There have been fewer conflicts in the past 50 years than at any other time in history. The contrast with democracy is that the authorities are distributed more equally within it. A democracy transitions power smoothly while establishing legitimacy. In 431 BCE, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War, held their traditional public funeral for all those who had been killed. Thought is not a barrier to the achievement of heroic goals. If the newly free nations see democracy chiefly as a quick route to material well-being and equal distribution of wealth, they will be badly disappointed, and democracy will fail. Pericles says that Athenians are equal to Sparta in war but are also able to enjoy peacetime. Pericles' view was obviously a very idealized one, and it ignored the realities of party factionalism, selfishness, and arrogance that were to soon manifest after his death. He was one of those rare individuals who do not merely accept the conditions of the world they find but try to shape it to an image in their own minds. It is a process which encourages everyone to put their needs before others. These aristocratic values never lost their powerful attraction to all Greeks, and Pericles claimed them for the Athenian democracy. 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. Now an amendment limits the number of terms that the executive branch can serve. There is no direction as to how voters approach this responsibility. 10. 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. Pericles believed that democracy, because it is rule by citizens, required citizens to be informed and to have a direct interest in affairs of state. Even in this current wave of populism that is happening around the world, the format of democracy encourages people to come to the center more often than it favors the extreme. To cope with this threat the Spartans turned their polis into a military academy and an armed camp, giving up the normal pleasures of life and devoting themselves entirely to the state. The Parthenon has become almost a byword for democratic values, which is why so many leaders of democracies … Pericles strengthened democracy by creating a direct democracy that had not existed before and by hiring more paid public officials. But the Funeral Oration was intended to inspire the Athenians with a vision of excellence that justified their current efforts. Nor does Pericles concede that the strict discipline of Spartan training and the secrecy of its closed society produce better soldiers than the Athenian democracy: “There is a difference between us and our opponents in how we prepare for our military responsibilities in the following ways: we open our city for everyone and do not exclude anyone for fear that he might learn or see something that would be useful to an enemy if it were not concealed. In this respect it was very much like Abraham Lincoln’s funeral oration at Gettysburg in 1863. James Madison mentioned in one of the federalist papers that this form of government could lead to confusion, instability, and injustice. People identify with their government to create a stronger level of patriotism. An ambitious imperial project has enormous costs, of course, but it isn’t clear that Athens ever really paid the price because of Pericles. Pericles says that annual public festivals and sacrifices offer the Athenians mental respite, and that in daily life they take pleasure in their homes and furnishings.89 At the same time, they are not utter hedonists: pleasure is an antidote for toil and distress (τῶν πόνων, τὸ λυπηρόν, 38.1). Democracy does not create a centralized power base for ruling over the people. Some time in the eighth century the polis emerged, and its needs at once came into conflict with the old heroic ethos. The structure of a democracy works to reduce issues with exploitation. ... if they lose, they claim that they were beaten by us in full strength. The tale tells us much about Greek values. One reason as to why Pericles praised Athenian democracy was to inspire citizens to continue to defend Athens-to rouse up the spirit of the people. These facts were obvious to all and might be expected to deter aggression. Solon responded, “Tellus of Athens,” a name neither Croesus nor anyone else outside of Athens had ever heard. 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. Tocqueville’s ‘Democracy in America,’ read anew in 2020, feels prophetic — and in some ways, hopeful. After the dead had been buried in a public grave, one of the leading citizens, chosen by the city, would offer a suitable speech, and on this occasion Pericles was chosen. 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). Gridlock occurs frequently in democratic structures. He even asks the gods to aid the enemy so that he may gain vengeance against Agamemnon because, as Achilles himself says, “he did no honor to the best of the Achaeans.”. “First,” he said, ‘I shall make clear through what practices we have come to our present position and with what political constitution and way of life our city has become great.” The institutions are democratic, but Pericles’ explanation of what that means is a refutation of the attacks made by the enemies of democracy. Aside from its value as a study in political greatness, therefore, Pericles’ career offers instruction in how a new and fragile democracy can be brought to maturity. Even Vladimir Lenin felt that democracy was the goal of communism, using a dictator to control the proletariat until such a status became possible. How could the ordinary man achieve kleos? Democracies encourage mob thinking because every election becomes an “us vs. them” edict. Next, we’ll take up the idea of democracy in Ancient Greece. Let’s take a look at some of the effects a direct democracy has on it’s country and citizens. We alone regard the man who takes no part in politics not as someone who minds his own business but as useless. 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. 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. 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). Democracies usually grow faster economically than other forms of government. Democracy favors the majority of the people, not just a select few. Many are now confronting long-suppressed ethnic divisions that threaten to destroy the needed unity and harmony. Now it is for you to emulate them; knowing that happiness requires freedom and freedom requires courage, do not shrink from the dangers of war” (2.43.2-4). If power moves away from the people to only a privileged few, then it is only a handful of steps away from a dictatorship. For them, nothing could interfere with the claims of the polis to their loyalty and devotion, so they rejected privacy, imposed a rigid economic equality on the members of the Spartiate class, attenuated the independence of the family and its control of its offspring, and made individual goals entirely subordinate to those of the state. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”. We are superior in this way, too, that we are the most daring in what we undertake at the same time as we are the most thoughtful before going about it, while with others it is ignorance that brings boldness and thought that makes them hesitate. 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. Few can rely upon strong democratic traditions, and all suffer economic conditions that range from bad to disastrous. Pericles and his crew arrive in Myteline, and Lysimachus goes out to meet the ships. They were a very small minority of the total population over which they ruled. You can even visit the Forum still to this day, which is where their meetings and votes were held. Empty promises are common in direct democracies as well. 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