Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Feb. 25, 1999, edition 1 / Page 10
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10 February 25, 1999 Focus 3CUS Section Topic of the Wee Systems of Government This week we take a look at government in all its wonderful forms Plato's ideas are still relevant Sam Wood Contributing Reporter Democracy, government of the people, for the people, by the people...what a bad idea. I mean seriously folks, have you looked around at the people that we all live with in this country? Have you ever seen such a massive conglomera tion of morons, idiots, jejks and other losers who shouldn’t have the responsibility of taking care of gold fish, much less making any sort of decisions about how our govern ment does things? Come on, admit it, you know who I’m talking about. Of course, wherever you go there will be that small majority of intelligent people who actually care about this coun try and can make informed voting decisions, but the majority of us are clueless and vote for whomever we do simply because he seems “cooler” than the other candidates. And even if you are sitting, reading this in righteous indigna tion thinking, “I always vote on an informed basis, as do all of my friends, it’s out responsibility as citizens to do so,” you still have to admit, that off of a college campus, in Schmtickville, your average Joe doesn’t really give a rat’s-ass and even if he does, he is still probably too taken by the candidate’s propa ganda to make an intelligent deci sion. But that’s where Plato comes in. Who says ancient philosophy isn’t useful today? Plato wrote this book called The Republic, where he discusses the true nature of justice. selected from the top of their class sometime in grade school and would be brought to live in a commune where they could all learn together from the best teachers available. something that this country could use a little of (go O.J.), in order to describe what a just man would be like he makes the analogy of a per son being like a city, with many different parts coming together to make it all work. He says depending on what type of government you have in the city, you can see what types of things are most important for the people living in it. Plato said a well-ordered city would be run by a meritocracy. That is, ruled by those with the ability to rule, not by those with the ability to trick people into thinking they can rule. The rulers of this city would be iNX>c» f *// / Plato knew that it was better to have rulers who didn’t want power, than those who were hun gry for it, so he instilled a feeling of civic responsibility into all of these trainees, who would grow up into “Philosopher Kings.” Plato^oes on for a while de tailing all of the training that they would receive, but it basically amounts to the best physical, men tal and emotional training avail able, with internships and some time in the “real world” for experience. In time these “Guardians” would assume leadership of the city, until their retirement to teaching (I.) The United Nations building in downtown New York City Are you Psychic? Do you practice Voodoo? Have you ever photographed a non-corporial form? The Pendulum wants you! We need your special skills - Call 584-2331 - Next Week's Focus Topic: A Ghost Hunt in Wjhitley Pendulum ms^bles.a crack team Qf ^xpertsMfirid just whatf ifanythim,.. / ^ ; ' is haunting the nitleu bumifig* . ;, .. i the next generation of leaders. Wouldn’t that be nice? Know ing that whoever is in charge knows what they are doing and isn’t doing it for money or power. I would be very difficult to bribe or corrupt an official who has been raised from childhood to hate corruption and who has no concerns for material wealth at all. We know they have the best training and have been taught ethics so they can make the right moral choices with our city, or in our case, country. But what about the voice of the people you say, we have no vote, we can’t change anything. Sure you can. Just as much as you can in modern-day America. Barring lo cal elections, how much do our na tional votes really do? The Electoral College elects the President, not us. We merely elect people to do our bidding, we don’t actually vote in the Senate. We just pick who’s going to vote. And I for one would rather have an incorruptible and honest represen tative than some schmuck who is intolerant and taking money form everyone, who’s only good at fool ing every one into thinking that they are honest. SomaybeAmericaisn’tready for this idea just yet. Maybe we’re still too caught up in the whole Democracy thing. But I’m not wor ried. Plato talked about democracy and how any country ruled by the masses would soon degenerate into anarchy and chaos. Debauchery and sin would be everywhere and the government would collapse. The only way to avoid this would be to adopt this meritocracy, but that probably won’t happen until after the collapse. Oh well, so nobody wants to heed the Philosophy major’s warnings. That’s fine, but I’ll be laugh ing my head off at all of you when the government crumbles to the ground under the oppressive boot- heel of anarchy and vice. Hahahahaha!
Elon University Student Newspaper
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Feb. 25, 1999, edition 1
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