In December 2020, Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that India has too much democracy which has become a deterrence in creating big reforms. Though then in an ambiguous reply, he said that he has been misquoted. But it started the long-standing debate about whether current democracies in different countries of the world are infallible or whether there is still scope for improvement. Democracy was developed in the greek city of Athens. It was developed in the fifth century B.C.E. Democracy is derived from two words demos (People) and Kratos( Rule) and ultimately was developed in order to create citizens who take an active part in government activities. Greek was a foundational native of democracy but it was also a place where its biggest defiance was started by the big Greek philosopher Socrates. One of the achievements of Greek, philosophy was suspicious of its other achievement Democracy. Socrates was not an Elite who believed that only a few prestigious should decide how society works.
Socrates is the founding father of greek philosophy. His pessimistic view on democracy are portrayed in the dialogue of Plato, who was a dieheart student of Socrates. In book Six of the Republic Of Plato, Socrates is shown as having a conversation with adeimentus. Where he compares the society with a ship and asks a question If you are on a journey via sheep who would you like take in charge of the ship. Anyone in the ship or People who are trained in navigation and rules of seafaring. Of course the latter, says adeimentus and Socrates reply ‘ why then any older in age is allowed to take party in a country’s working. Socrates said that voting was skill and it should never be given in the hands of irrational masses. He said that masses work on random intuition and its not the good way to choose your leader. He promoted the idea of teaching and encompassing people with skills that allow deep thinking in general processes of a country. He even extended his praising that Spartan monarch was managing his Kingdom well and was better than democracy. Socrates didn’t believe in rationality of masses and said that democracy will soon see a decline.
If Democracy was so bad then why do we have it now. For first it is important for us to understand that democracy in Athens was quite different to what we have it today. Athens had direct democracy but today we have it in multiple formats and versions. Administration post in Athens was allotted to citizens on a random basis without looking at their qualification and abilities . Women and immigrants were not allowed to vote. It was made compulsory to take part in government proceedings for every one selected and not doing so would have invited a punishment of painting red on the face . It was easy in that period to curb free speech and brainwash mobs to rule them. For democracy to perform well it is important that people are well educated and rationality is strengthened to make them understand the difference between a con and a legit person. Why is important for us? Because ignorance could create a dictator in face of democracy.
Uncovered Reality 