Make Athens Great Again!
Hello all,
Your friends in Dems of Davidson have been churning away on multiple fronts: yesterday, volunteers collected eight new voter registration forms (yaaay) and had many good conversations with passersby. The volunteer management team has been creating literature and running canvasses, recruiting the volunteer army we’ll need for the fall. The events team is helping with the events you’ll see down below. And finally, kudos to Cambria Nielsen, Barbara Randolph, and Dian Hloros, who took responsibility for the weekly email while yours truly was in Greece. This practice of passing the mic sets a good precedent!
It’s hard to pass through the agora in Athens, as I did a couple weeks ago, and not to feel you’re on sacred ground when it comes to the origins of democracy. The tokens that jurors used to vote “yes” or “no” in public trials (see above), gives tangible evidence of the system in action. It seemed particularly germane in a week where a jury of twelve Americans voted quickly and unanimously to convict a former president of felony charges.
Then as now, democracy remains more vulnerable to threats from within rather than from without. As John Adams observed, “there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” In ancient Athens, one threat to the new system of democracy was the populist demagogue Cleon, who an ancient writer described as a man of “disgusting boldness,” characterized by “rapacity and fierce effrontery.” According to the philosopher Aristotle, Cleon “corrupted the Athenians more than anyone else. Although other speakers behaved decently, Cleon was the first to shout during a speech in the Assembly, use abusive language while addressing the people…” Sound familiar? I wish I could take credit for coining the phrase, “Make Athens Great Again,” but another professor got there first (a nice article on that subject is here). The parallels are remarkable.
Certainly, the democratic system of government has its vulnerabilities, one of which is the tendency of people to attach themselves fawningly to a leader they believe will solve all problems, entrusting their agency to a savior figure that embodies their hopes and dreams, fears and prejudices. That emphasis on the person—the fascination with the strong man (yes, it’s always a man), represents a grave threat to democracy.
By contrast, the kind of granular, grass-roots engagement in the system of democracy that we are making by registering voters, turning them out, meeting together, supporting good candidates that will legislate for just and fair laws is the best way of making (and keeping) democracy alive and vital. Please join us in this good work by participating in one of the many opportunities listed above.
Have a splendid week,
Greg