Plato on Democracy
by Tatiana Velitchkov © 2009

Plato is definitely a legend and one of the great achievers and sources of inspiration. He was wise and a profound individual who spoke his mind. Plato was from a wealthy and very influential family. He therefore had a large exposure to politics and the intrigue that came with it. Having been known as the western philosopher came from an Athenian family.

Plato criticized the democratic practiced in his city because, he said that under the type of leadership that was present nothing could progress, it only remained constant. Plato said that every individual was free and at liberty to do, and say, and do as they please with respect of authority. Plato stated that this democratic way of governance brought about imbalance and instability of their state and thus making it worse.

Plato continues to state that the leaders in a democratic governed city are not supposed to receive any form of training or education. He emphasizes that the only requirement a politician needs is the ability to be able to establish rapport with another person, and also be able to socialize and make friends. Plato’s words and opinions held a lot of weight regarding the democratic situation. The qualifications of a politician actually didn’t matter then.

The home city of Plato (Athens), was a democratic state all through the fourth and fifth centuries. The oligarchs succeeded and established a government in 411 BC whereby the mighty and wealthy ruled and governed over underprivileged. The oligarchic regime did not even last for a whole year. In Athens there was always misunderstandings between the oligarchs and the democrats, all of them claimed that one was conspiring against the other. Plato had a few words on this; he stated that in every city or state there will always be two people or subjects at war with each other.

Plato criticizes democracy and said that it was nothing but an unjust regime, he labeled democracy as an opportunist avenue for politicians, he said that it was the cause for the creation of confusion amongst the citizens of a country. Plato insisted that with democracy, people would never develop, the poor would remain the same and the rich would remain rich. He stated that a free country is one that people were at liberty to make their own choices. He said that everything should be done fairly including distribution of power, food resources and also other material things.