History repeating
It is said history doesn't repeat itself but often rhymes. Greece, the birthplace of democracy however Socrates also predicted its downfall. He describes his ideal society of democracy, the one he lived in himself, and postulates about how it would transition out of democracy and most likely into tyranny. He speaks of the wonders he and his fellows enjoy in this democracy, that what they value is found in so many aspects of democracy, and of its overflowing freedom.
But like all societies, there are ever-present drones. The class separated from the workers who a democracy is formed around and the traders who are meant to distribute wealth among all without hoarding it. The class of people who control what everyone else defines as valuable, that control the final big stick of violence to beat with when the other sticks break. The class who begins as supposed representatives of the people who eventually begin to represent only themselves. The class that gains strength with each generation slowly separating themselves from the mob.
And as a democracy ages this class will swell until it affects the wealth of the democracy forcing the workers to challenge the drones provoking them into picking at the traders who move wealth around allowing for everyone to have access to a countries creations until the traders eventually become oligarchs.
Oligarchs who became oligarchs due to toxic freedom and drones. And how can we complain that they became oligarchs? Workers who live in a society whose top value is freedom that then are forced to hand over wealth rubs all citizens the wrong way, but most pay their modest share; however when someone reaches the class of trader they become the target of the drones who will attack a traders freedom.
The trader will become then an oligarch who stores wealth at the threat of someone taking it away from them, of suddenly being cut up for the drones to dish out as they see fit, or to not dish out as they see fit. Now not only the drones are hoarding the wealth of workers, but also the wealth of traders, and the traders now oligarchs hoard the wealth of workers.
Eventually, this will lead to the people championing a tyrant to go after both sides with a righteous fury fueled by the anger amongst the workers. It will not matter if it is only a minority of people who champion a tyrant because this minority will be violent zealots tired of waiting for change. Silently the tyrant will punish the drones and the oligarchs, tho the workers know what the tyrant is doing they will stay silent with the tyrant. The tyrant will be chased off after that, but the democracy would have already been eroded away by that point leading to more strife.
The tyrant will return and finally bring democracy into tyranny. At first, workers might support everything good or bad that the tyrant enacts. But the workers will quickly realize their mistake. That when power is given it can not be so easily taken back. And they will oppose the tyrant when they realize this, and the tyrant will oppose them, and what most likely follows is a series of tyrannies.
And in this play I have described, this fantasy, I see those who fit these roles in our own democracy.
Our representatives seem to not represent us anymore but instead themselves, the stick, and the control over wealth, or to be blunt, the politicians, the military, and the banks. These are the drones.
Our capitalists who store wealth for the sake of wealth are oligarchs turned oligarchs from toxic freedom.
We workers chase them for money, land, assets that they have only permission to hold. The drones have the big stick, the callous nature to not care if half or more of the population suffered from using the stick so long as they remained drones.
Trump is a breakthrough president, who by most qualifications should not have been one. He has a crowd of zealots, and yes also rational people, but still a crowd of angry workers. Call him a drone, or an oligarch, he is one of them but some of the workers still champion him, fight for him, push him forward, and would seat him on the throne of God.
I have no opinion on what is right, or wrong in this theory. I can not interact with the outcome so I try my best to observe and think about it without taking action, so I have no right to judge someone. But I thought this idea was both frightening and interesting to think about so I wanted to share it and maybe encourage some more people to read Platos passage on it and make their own inferences.
But I do want to offer something other than doom and gloom. That perhaps technology will prevent this downfall, or that democracy will evolve into something wonderful instead of falling to old ways. And yes I'm aware of how loonie this all must come off as and know that I am probably very wrong and/or naive.