Is Harassment of Public Figures Acceptable: Your Sincere Opinion

[vulcanlogician]

As I understand him, Plato advocates a kind of benevolent tyranny by an elite class that is at odds with America's founding principle of self-governance, i.e. a republic of the people, as opposed to Philosopher Kings lording over their subjects. Is that truly the direction you believe America should go?

No. I do not advocate a carbon copy of Plato's system to be implemented anywhere. I think democracy is far better than Plato gave it credit for. But at the same time, only a fool would call democracy a perfect system. Democracy has flaws. And, as citizens in a democratic system, we would do well to pay attention to our system's inherent foibles. To that end, I find Plato's criticisms of democracy especially useful in diagnosing many of America's contemporary political problems.

Take, for instance, congressional gridlock. Sure, plenty of us can point out that compromise between both parties would result in the accomplishment of certain goals (say, balancing the budget). If both parties want to balance the budget, this ought to be able to be done. And yet, it hasn't been done. One party supports cutting spending to balance the budget while the other wants to raise taxes on the rich. A compromise should have been reached here, because any idiot can figure out how to solve this problem: employ both solutions. Duh. But have we been able to solve this issue? No! Gridlock has been a problem since 2008, and despite all the talk from both parties about resolving it, we haven't made any progress at all. Democracy has failed in that regard.

So how do we fix this problem? Again... easy answer... easy solution. The electorate needs to (wisely) refrain from reelecting those who dig in their heels and resist compromise. The problem is: democracy isn't able to make this happen. Why? The electorate is too easily manipulated by those with an agenda. People want to vote their party. People want to vote for candidates who echo their value system and worldview... even if those people are killing compromise and sending our country down the shitter. As Plato points out, democracy presents a paradox: the many are supposed to be the rulers, but the real rulers end up being "those who can manipulate the many." 

Add to this Henry David Thoreau's concern: "The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for, in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure." Recount the Iraq War... same principle at work there.

I could go on... but I won't.

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To touch on the other thing you mentioned: though, in many ways, Plato's ideal system resembles a dictatorship, there are several key features that distinguish it. I think it is important to recognize that 

1) The guardians (philosopher kings) are not allowed to possess wealth or even get married. They share all things with one another. They must be the kind of people who can live like learned monks. And this is precisely the kind of existence that Plato imagined for them.

2) Guardians are to be selected first from the people who seek and love knowledge for its own sake, love truth, and do not deal in falsehoods. From among this group, those who display moral worthiness are eligible to become guardians.

3) To his own disservice, Plato thought that once you found these guardians that you could thereafter "breed" them, unfortunately causing him to propose a system of eugenics in Book VI of the Republic. Epic fail, Plato. But the reader can easily ignore Plato's departure into absurdity and focus instead on the system of education he proposes in Book II... the system which leads to the selection of guardians in the first place. Plato is one of the earliest advocates of a robust system of public education, beside which even our modern systems pale in comparison.

4) The essential facet of Plato's system is that reason is to be in charge. Rulers ought to be logical and reasonable as opposed to ambitious or desirous. For that reason, democracy might score a few more points (in Plato's view) the more educated the populace is. Aside from Plato's own academy, which was open to all interested students and provided free of charge, education in ancient Athens was typically expensive and available only to wealthy aristocrats. Athenian democracy put power into the hands of the uneducated masses, which is one of Plato's chief complaints.