-cracy: From Greek; Govern, Rule, Government
What is the Best form of Government?
One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion. – Thomas Paine
Monarchy
History is replete with critiques of monarchy that could fill a million essays and still leave no room for the kind words, so I will try and focus on the good here. It was consistently proficient in being the dominant form of governance through most of post-antiquity. Despite methods employed, there must be something to be said for that, and perhaps it’s also in the willingness of subjects toward subjugation, something we’ve seen too frequently during the pandemic.
Monarchy gets a bad wrap from historians and democracy sycophants. It wasn’t so bad, so long as you were the monarch or were within the royal court, though you never wanted to be too close to the monarch, nor too distant. Somewhere between dutifully obedient and forgettable was a fine balance to keep your head. Literally.
Hereditary monarchs could be temperamental, cruel, abrasive, impulsive, demanding and indifferent, though many were well educated, thoughtful, wise and measured. The problem with monarchs is you never knew what you would get next. Perhaps with advances in DNA and medical technology we could try this again to make sure syphilitic princes never became kings, who over-taxed overseas colonies into revolt.
The more interesting question we should be compelled to ask given our recent suffered tyrannies is how would a monarch have behaved the past two years aside from complete self isolation and abandonment of his subjects? Would they have done any worse by not doing anything at all? Or worse than five dozen governors, presidents and prime ministers did in locking up healthy people who were never in any harm and forcing them to be injected to enrich corporations that owned them? Would the monarch have told Pfizer and Moderna executives and his health advisors, the minute he knew their products were a travesty and deadly for his subjects, to line up in the town squares across his land to be pelted to death with rocks? Maybe we should be rethinking this one.
Democracy
The historical model for this form of government is Athens, Greece, and unlike Monarchy it often gets too much praise. It’s deficiencies are plenty, with the ‘tyranny of the majority’ the most obvious. Look around at public polling data about the pandemic lately and you’ll see this in action first hand. 81 million votes for Brandon Ice Cream Dementia? Even if it was true, which it’s likely not, this is the primo historical example of the tyranny of the majority in action. Elections have consequences and as those entrusted with counting the votes in elections know in Langley, it is only they who really matter.
The word democracy today is nothing more than a rhetorical political weapon to wield in justifying tyrannies whenever rulers need to gaslight their constituents. The assumption always being that whatever is a threat to their tyranny is a threat to democracy itself. It’s a protective shield to hide from the blowback of their own atrocious incompetency. Where the media lies, alternative media that dares tell the truth is “disinformation”. Where the media are stenographers for power, alternative media that exposes their corruption are a “threat to democracy.” This rhetoric can be weaponized for any ends today. Substack is the latest target du jour of the blue check managerial mid wits crying about the unwashed people seeking the truth from alternative sources. These cretins really detest the people, and only love one type of democracy, where the outcome can be arranged through algorithmic manipulation, censorship of the truth and mass coercion between corporate and state powers. This is called Sophisticated Democracy.
Republic
The Roman republic was truly a masterful exercise in measured and balanced governance for the time and an example for many in the future to build upon, though like all forms, not without worthy criticisms. Plato’s version would never work today. The most wise among society are ostracized or outright ignored. Even if the most worthy of the role of ‘ruler’ knew it was he who should pursue the challenge, imagine all the compromises of conscience required to fundraise, ass kiss, simplify their thoughts for the commoners and debase their moral principals to participate in such a lowly system. Plato addresses the consequences of refusing this ‘duty’: “The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.” And so we are constantly ruled by the most corrupt, compromised and least worthy.
The most worthy are always kept so far from power that the idea of a thoughtful and wise ruler would be impossible to realize today. Picture a campaign rally, with thousands on their phones hardly able to focus on anything longer than a goldfish can, and they’re gathered before someone like a modern-day Abraham Lincoln giving his Peoria speech against slavery. Most people would be incapable of comprehending much of it, let alone focusing on content and taking it all in for…three hours.
When Netflix documentaries (grade A propaganda), Young Turks episodes and Joe Rogan podcasts are the “deepest” philosophical engagements of a minority of the people, while the majority dance on TikTok and try to “get in her DMs”, than the majority are ill equipped to identify the wisest and most competent in society, so where democracy fails in tyranny of the majority, Plato’s republic fails in incapacity of the majority. The arrogance of the thesis is only outdone by the ignorance of its antithesis, the wisdom of the ruler collapses at the feet of the ignorant ruled. In short, the people would fail to recognize the most worthy if she destroyed all the others on a debate stage in a white pantsuit while saying “Aloha”, or he dared to say that the invasion of Iraq constituted a war crime in 2008 AND had the title of Doctor.
That leaves the greatest constitutional Republic and the greatest founding governing document ever in limbo for at least a century. One could point to the Federal Reserve Act or Income Tax Act or National Security Act and Patriot Act and two dozen other nails in this republic’s coffin, a futile exercise in historical squabbling. All of it had such tremendous potential, and still carries so much promise for so many, if only it could ever be restored.
