Reply #23: The thoughts are noble because they come, as I said, from Plato [View All]

[Ron Green]

and other thinkers about representative government throughout the ages. I happen to agree that some people are more qualified to make policy than others, and I also believe strongly that evil men will seize power when they're given the chance. The challenge for democracy, then, is to build a system that somehow encourages masses of people, who respond to fear and Right Wing radio, to overcome their baser selves and embrace leaders who tell them the truth about sustainability, peace, tolerance, health and all kinds of public issues. In Plato's day, or even Lincoln's, citizens would sit or stand for hours and listen to carefully reasoned debate. In today's electronic media age of short attention spans, the part of "citizens" most engaged is the part that fears an enemy and craves a new car, i.e. the id, the lower chakras, the lizard brain, however you want to put it.

Your thoughts about the "free market of ideas" sound just as noble as mine, I mean Plato's, about the "wisest and best," but I respectfully suggest we need a lot less free market and a lot more wisdom.