mmediate public opinion, without discriminating the merit of that opinion, leads to an inadequate and quite unsatisfactory government: an excessive desire for liberty at the expense of everything else is what undermines democracy and leads to the demand for tyranny. The Democratic state becomes more and more extreme in its pursuit of liberty and equality: everyone has their say, but nothing is ever achieved: instead the state consists of rulers who behave like subjects and subjects who behave like rulers. The people begin to desire a strong leader, who will make the difficult decisions for them and bear the consequences: the Democracy has become a Tyranny.In summary, Plato's comments are incredibly perceptive and relevant: a lot of what he says has been proved true in one way or another throughout history. The transition of our own country from an early 19th century Oligarchy to the Democracy we have today seems to have been predicted by Plato over two thousand years ago. It may also be true that our contemporary politicians are to be ousted by the dissatisfied public, and replaced with a tyrannical dictator. Finally, though not everything Plato says is in concordance with what we can now see for ourselves, his ideas are still relevant in any study of modern politics....
