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Philosophy Now April/May 2019 An Unwanted Visitation by Craig Potter
Either/Or Democracy
divided we fall
Post 84. May 16, 2019
Disintegrating Democracy
Integrating Philosophy
A Philosophy Now magazine fiction piece raised several issues regarding modern democratic societies that seem relevant to the BothAnd philosophy. The short story presented an encounter between a time-traveling (or dreaming) Sociology student and an early 20th century English Suffragette, Mabel Capper, who was famous for Civil Disobedience activities, campaigning primarily for Women’s right to vote. Rather than discussing the enfranchisement issue though, he asked her a rhetorical question about the subsequent evolution of inclusive democratic government1 : “has democracy benefitted from or suffered from the participation of the masses?” From the beginning of civilization, the majority of people had no say in public policy, and government was a war-game for the rich and the strong, with the poor & weak serving as pawns & cannon fodder. So, the modern revival of a long-dead philosophical experiment was not an immediate success. Instead, it quickly showed signs of intrinsic weakness, splintering into a bar brawl of turf-defending interest groups2. The American and French revolutions barely survived their violent clashes of competing social classes and tribal loyalties.
Acutely aware of this inherent feature of mass rule, Mabel asked the interloper from the 21st century future : “I take it that people are unhappy with the state, even though they have full enfranchisement?” When people have legal rights, they also have recourse to legal representation, hence the constant in-fighting and backbiting via courts of law. The student then sum-marized the cause of his anxiety and uncertainty about the current state of Western democracies : “The sense of being outnumbered and unrepresented creates a growing sense of apathy on both sides of the political spectrum. . . . The problem is obvious : democracy itself is a failed project.” To that, she countered : “Yet without democracy you enable tyranny”. Is that really the political dilemma : to choose Scylla3 (Autocracy) on one hand, or Charybdis (Democracy) on the other?
Although kings & emperors have ruled over peons & plebians for thousands of years, their penchant for waging disastrous wars had motivated thinkers to seek better systems of civil government. In the 20th century, across the world, societies have experimented with a variety of administrative structures, from romantic one-person-one-vote, to ideological dictator-ships of the proletariat, to pragmatic mash-ups of capitalistic oligarchies and socialistic democracies. None of them has found the perfect solution to governing a world of 7 billion unique stakeholders. The student, earnestly seeking a viable policy, had sadly concluded that democratic civilization was crumbling from the conflicting forces of individual freedoms4. Previously, rights & liberties were defined in terms of social classes. Now, it’s per-sonal needs & desires that are competing with those of leaders & groups. Can we somehow restore the balance between liberty & duty, between freedom & justice, between Me & We?
The BothAnd philosophy5 would advise all classes & cliques to remain loyal to a higher principle than ego-centric self-interest. All philosophies and all religions have preached Altruism as an antidote to the corrosive side-effects of unbridled Freedom and Individualism, yet, Dogma is just as divisive. So, we must look beyond our little circle to find that unifying principle of Holism.
End of Post 84
1. Plato on Democracy : The ancient philosopher had a lot to say on the subject of civil government. His city, Athens, had instituted a democratic system for male elites only (20% of population). But Plato was less concerned with egalitarian issues, than the potential for Plutocracy or Oligarchy, in which a minority could buy influence over the whole system. His Utopia would instead be ruled by an ideal enlightened heroic philosopher king. In those days, no one imagined a government of- and-by the masses of people. The only options were dictatorship of one strong man, a few rich men, or one wise man. https://classicalwisdom.com/philosophy/socrates-plato/plato-and-the-disaster-of-democracy/
2. Benjamin Franklin : Frustrated by the quarrel-ing of the first constitutional convention, he begged each of the assembled founding fathers to “doubt a little of his own infallibility”. https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/pop_finalspeech.html
4. What’s Wrong With Democracy? Too much independence & freedom; not enough com-munity & duty. The Either/Or policy is “me & mine versus you & yours. The BothAnd philosophy is a precarious balancing act between Me Motives and We Reasons. The linked article goes into more detail about several intrinsic causes of dis-integrating democracies.
5. BothAnd Government : This blog is an argument for Relativism, Negotiation, Compromise, & Cooperation. The usual alternative to these wavering wimpy ways is the unyielding dominant standpoint of Absolutism, Conflict, and Competition. Royal and Imperial political & religious systems tend to adopt an autocratic stance of “my way or the highway”. In more democratic and egalitarian systems, the marketplace of ideas will determine truths and values. Nationalism is a modern pseudo-democratic off-shoot of Royalism, with its divine right to rule a nation of pawns. Democracy and Socialism are imperfect attempts to accommodate the needs & wishes of all citizens from top to bottom. The BothAnd principle assumes that we will always have people on both sides of every issue. Yet, we can still have our private beliefs, even as we make public conces-sions to necessity. BA re-quires Negotiation, Trade-offs, or Arbitration, aimed at Win-Win solutions to disputes.
Religion & Politics are internally cohesive, but externally divisive. The only social glue that can hold things together is the BothAnd attitude.
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