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He has already dealt with the Oligarchic society and character and now moves onto Democracy and the democratic character. Plato states that the Oligarchy, where the ultimate desire is for wealth and character governs emotions without reason, will ultimately collapse and become a Democracy. The lower, drone class are exploited by the avaricious oligarchic class: this leads the drones into discontent, and they plot against their rulers. When the two classes come into contact with each other, the lean and sunburnt lower class will find themselves beside the sheltered upper class with their superfluous flesh. They will realise that they can seize power, and perhaps call upon some form of external force to aid their struggle. Therefore, democracy originates when the poor win, kill or exile their opponents, and give the rest equal civil rights and opportunities. Plato's description of events bears a remarkable resemblance to the reality of the French Revolution, when the decadent and affluent upper class were deposed and destroyed by the poor, drone class. However, though a democratic state was declared, it failed to materialise as France sublimed to a tyrranic period of terror with no real democracy before it. However, Plato now describes the Democracy that has been implemented by the lower classes with the aim of leading onto the democratic character. With new freedom and liberty, the average individual will arrange his life as pleases him best; this leads to a great variety of individual character within the society. This variety and colour may catch the attention of those who have little understanding of important matters (Plato uses the example of women and children to illustrate his point). However, this lack of order does not encourage the development of well-balanced characters, as Plato demonstrates. Platonic psychology supports the view that any mind should be made up of three hierarchical levels: the desires and emotions being the lowest tier; the character, as decided by upbringing occupies the intermediate tier; and reason is at the top of the hierarchy. Plato further divides the desires into two categories: the necessary, acquisitive desires (i.e., those that benefit us and are essential to life) and the unnecessary, wasteful desires (i.e., those that harm us physically or mentally and can be controlled). With the Oligarchic psyche, the character governs the emotions but without any reason behind it, i.e., the Oligarchic character balances his desires in order to gain the greatest wealth, but he does not really know why he does this. He is driven by motives hidden to him. Plato bases his description of the transition from the Oligarchic mindset to the Democratic mindset upon this psychological theory. The Oligarch is brought up in [a] narrow economical way and at some point he comes into contact with the drone element and their honey of various and refined pleasures. Since he has no rational reason for the suppression of these desires, they grow in strength: eventually they overwhelm his character and capture the seat of government. He ceases to prioritise his desires, and gives them the equality of Democracy: for the rest of his life he spends as much money, time and trouble on the unnecessary desires as on the necessary. His time is spent satisfying his immediate emotions, the desires of the moment. He reckons his way of life to be free and pleasant and his individual versatility matches that of the colourful Democratic state. Plato's main criticism of the Democracy is that the state gives all men equality, whether they are equal or not. The egalitarianism of the Democratic state can be seen as misguided, if Plato's statements are taken and elaborated upon: the idea of equality and equal rights for all citizens is based upon a noble ideal, but is not practical. In pragmatic terms, all men are unequal in almost every sense: some have greater ability, some can control their desires better, others are a potential danger to themselves and others if left ungoverned. All opinions are not equal: the politician who panders to popular opinion in order to further his own career is not a true statesman. The desires of the people must be controlled by the character of authoritarian conditioning, which is itself supported by the reasoning of a government which knows the best course for the state to follow. Plato's idea of a Democracy was different from the current government system in Britain: in the city-state of Athens (a city-state can be described as a 'city' nucleus, with an are of agricultural land attached - Desmond Lee, translator of the 'Republic'), any state decision was decided on a general vote by the adult men present at the relevant meeting of the 'Assembly'. However, the establishment of television as the main political medium has opened up opportunities of a direct approach to the whole electorate that did not exist before in modern society (Lee). This level of mass consultation is perhaps the nearest that any modern Democracy has been to the system used in Plato's city-state two and a half thousand years ago. This allows us to see for ourselves how the eagerness of politicians to maintain public popularity, even at the sacrifice of the nation's long-term welfare, can lead to problems as difficult issues are never tackled. The politicians do not want to upset the people by leading them in an immediately upsetting, but ultimately rewarding direction: they simply are not statesmen. Plato's subsequent criticism of Democracy is that the increased power of immediate 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. Bibliography: Word Count: 1171
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