Forms of government have been argued since the beginning of civilization. Disputes about how to run a government have led to the fall of empires and war. Because of this, we must look back at ancient civilizations to find which governments work best in the long run. Democracy may be the most tried form of government however it is ultimately the best way to run a government. There are two types of democracy; Direct Democracy, which means each citizen has a direct effect on each policy the government works on, and Representative Democracy, where citizens elect a person or persons to vote and argue policies on their behalf. In the United States, in contrast to Athens, we use Representative Democracy. Through participating in Reacting to the Past: The Threshold of Democracy, I was able to make some conclusions for myself. While democracy is, as Winston Churchill stated, a superior form of government, it presents flaws that regularly upset and anger the citizens that it serves. While democracy ultimately has many shortcomings and problems with how it is utilized, it is the best way to form a government.
When playing along in the game The Threshold of Democracy, each student took on the role of an Athenian and may have had to alter their own beliefs to work within their faction and successfully win. The goal is to give students a full scope of how Athens was governed and shows Athens as one of the first successful democratic governments. Although, there are faults in that statement alone seeing as only native-born men were able to vote. But this is a problem even the early United States had. So, I can safely say that this is not a problem of democracy, but with societal issues that happen to affect governance. Women, slaves, and Metrics in Athens were not given the right to vote.
Although the history of democracy isn’t perfect, the many strengths outweigh its flaws and explain why it’s been used for so long. Currently, in our political system, practically anyone with enough money can buy their way into office. But since citizens get to decide who they think will best represent them they can check the power they give to potential politicians. To benefit themselves and to stay in office, politicians will act on what’s best for their constituents. While this seems obvious, it shows just one of the strengths of democracy and how it is superior to all other forms of government. When working on speeches for the Athens game I found it would be easy to point out the flaws of others, but instead, I made my statements and tried to find a way for everyone to benefit from my proposals, with help from my faction and factions in favor of my statements. A large part of Athenian history was recorded by Xenophon, who wrote “Hellenica,” which documents the troubling times during the Thirty Tyrants' reign, writing, “…they began to consider how they might gain absolute control.” (Xenophon p. 226). This thinking led to the killing of Athenians who supported democracy. Another account by Xenophon in “The Economist” tells how a Solonian aristocrat used to praise and reward to get “… soldiers to feel that they are bound to follow him through fire and in any adventure” (Xenophon 225). These were two points in history that affected Athenians tremendously and it's obvious why they favored democracy far more. Democracy gives citizens the comfort and ease of casting their voice in all government proceedings that could affect them in the long run.
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Throughout my experience of playing an Athenian Man in one of the world’s first democracies, I also observed that while democracy is praised because it invites the voices of all, greed and selfishness ruin the party. I found it easy to predict certain players’ voting decisions because they would never dare to think outside of their parties’ beliefs. I knew that the odds were ultimately stacked against the Thrasybulans in not just number but persuasion. There was practically no point in crafting a perfect argument because the factions would already have their minds made up on how to advance their agenda and “win the game”. When participants in democracy would rather look out for their own beliefs and not the needs of their constituents, not all voices will be heard equally. While the goal of democracy is to allow the voices of all citizens to be heard, problems arise when personal desires began to fuel debate instead of driving to create an unbiased form of government where, as stated in Pericles’ “Funeral Oration,” “the laws… afford equal justice to all in their private differences” (Pericles 91).
Today, many of us can’t fathom what it would be like to live in a government system other than democracy. We don’t have to hide our opinions from an empirical leader or a corrupt government, instead, we have the power to vote on anything thing that could affect us in any way. We are all open to having different beliefs and that is something we take for granted. We all have an opportunity to broaden our minds because democracy makes it possible to listen to the opinions of others without government involvement. In a form of government where everyone is forced to believe the same mantras, there will never be diversity or new opinions to learn from.
Democracy needs improvements. And it's very important to understand that. While it has come a long way from its beginnings in Greece there are still many changes that can be made to insure the greatness of many societies. The overarching qualities that democracy has is that everyone is given a voice, there are checks and balances for every person in power, and no one can take away a person’s right to vote. The flaws in democracy can not be ignored. Since we know they’re there, let's all work together to insure that our government is always working for the good of the people no matter what.
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