Democracy

I've nearly finished the book I'm reading on the 200 year Athenian experiment with democracy and many of the systems they put in place have relevance to failures within current, representative democracies.

Of great importance to the Athenians was democratic participation in government, along with the avoidance of factionalism, the latter translating to a ban on political parties that can gain control of the democratic levers of power for their own gain and countering the influence of the wealthy on such factions through the elimination of a central funding point. Anyone wanting the influence the democratic process with money had to spread their efforts over a much greater number of people, thereby dramatically diminishing the effect.

It has been said of modern democracies that because we elect representatives, the people exercise their control of government for one day every 4 or 5 years, with a consequent dilution of accountability, whereas the people were in full control of ancient Athenian democracy 365 days a year, leading to full accountability. Full participation in democracy led to a population that was highly aware of, and interested in, the issues of the day and public life.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, participation was not universal. To vote you have to be a citizen, which meant both your parents had to be fully paid up, free Athenians. That precluded slaves, any foreigner who merely lived in Athens and anyone with one parent that wasn't an Athenian. Of the 250,000 population, only some 30,000 met this qualification, but the status and wealth of these 30,000 was not a qualification for participation.

Ostracism was a weapon that the people had at their disposal for getting rid of leaders who had lied to them, or led them down a disastrous path.

The problem with the Athenian model, however, is scaling it up to a national system, although modern communications have surmounted this. 

Talking of democracy and accountability, Boris Johnson has once more demonstrated his tenuous grip on truth and observed reality in the last couple of days:

• He maintained that 127 HVG visas have been accepted by EU drivers when it was actually 27, according to the department responsible for issuing the visas.
• He said; "We are not going back to the same old broken model with low wages, low growth, low skills and low productivity, all of it enabled and assisted by uncontrolled immigration." However, under Gordon Brown's stewardship, the UK experienced its longest, sustained period of economic growth in 200 years, and that's simply established, historical fact - or rewriting history, as the anti-woke warriors would have us believe. I know anecdote isn't data, but I know many people who preferred to employ eastern Europeans due to their work ethic and therefore he can't blame Freedom of Movement as being responsible for low productivity.

In ancient Athens he'd be a prime candidate for ostracism. Indeed, a serial offender. Like a teenager, he believes that merely saying something makes it true. I see in my mind an image of Boris as King Cnut commanding the waves to go back while seated on a chair on rails, which his followers are pulling back from the waves while shouting jubilantly; "Look, the waves are receding!"