02ap20 26mar2020 13nov2019
It was a democracy without constraint against the worst impulses of the majority.
Demagogues’ manipulation of the Athenian people left a legacy of
instability,
bloodshed and
genocidal warfare,
described in Thucydides’ history.
Misleading speech is the essential element of despots, because despots need the support of the people.
That record is why Socrates – before being sentenced to death by democratic vote – chastised the Athenian democracy for its elevation of
popular opinion
at the expense of truth.
Greece’s bloody history is also why Plato
associated democracy with tyranny
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