At the end of the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, the two protagonists, Prometheus and Gaea, decide to start a society that differs from the one they used to live in. Rather than focusing on everyone as a collective group, the society they want to start focuses on freedom and individuality. Prometheus and Gaea believe that embracing each person’s personality is better than putting everyone in a group and that all people should be able to choose what they do with their life. At the foundation of democracy, we can find both of these ideas. Drawing from the text, we can see that democracy would be the ideal government for Prometheus and Gaea’s society.
A democracy would support Prometheus and Gaea’s beliefs in individuality and freedom because it allows everyone to have a voice and express themselves. In a democracy, the people get to vote for what they want, and this addresses the needs of each person. In Prometheus and Gaea’s society, they would likely prefer a direct democracy, which is when the people directly vote, rather than electing representatives to decide for them. The reason that a direct democracy would be ideal is because it allows each person’s voice to be heard, and it represents individualism better than any other type of government. In the society they used to live in, everyone lived by this statement: “‘We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever’”(Rand, 19). Everyone had to live as if they were just a part of a group and not an individual person. In a direct democracy, each person’s ideas can be delivered without any interference from other people, and every person can be seen as unique and as an individual.
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Another reason why Prometheus and Gaea would implement a direct democracy is that it would bring more freedom to everyone than any other type of government. The lack of one major leader or group makes it so that people are not vulnerable to the power that one all-mighty ruler would have. In the book, the council gets to decide everyone’s occupation and what they can do in their lives. This type of government is what forced Prometheus and Gaea to leave their old civilization, as they were different from what the council wanted them to be so they weren’t accepted. A democracy would be the exact opposite of this type of government because the power rests in the people’s hands, and that creates liberty and freedom for everyone. Freedom of speech, association, media access, and other basic rights are all protected by democracy (Clark, 20v18.). Without an oppressive power that governs everyone, people can choose their own jobs, talk to the people they want, and be accepted as different. A democracy would provide the freedom that Prometheus and Gaea ran away from home for.
Along with democracy, there is one other type of government among monarchies, oligarchies, republics, and fascism that may support the ideas of freedom and individuality. A republic works like a democracy in the way that the people get to vote on issues. However, people in a republic vote for representatives, and then representatives vote on actual issues. In a republic, the power still resides in the people’s hands, but the power is used more indirectly (Lunawat, 2019). Voting for representatives creates groups that are similar to how people were organized when Prometheus and Gaea were called Equality and Liberty. Having one person speak for a group of people denies each person the ability to exhibit their own unique needs and beliefs, and this goes against the morals of individuality that Prometheus and Gaea have. A republic does not promote freedom and individuality as much as a direct democracy because it needs to have groups of people that are represented by one person. This shows collectivism, which is what Prometheus and Gaea ran away from, and a government with even a little bit of collectivism is exactly what they wouldn’t want.
Prometheus and Gaea want to start a new society where the individual is more important than the collective group. The government type that would best align with individuality and freedom is democracy. A direct democracy, which allows every person to vote for themselves rather than for representatives, is the more specific type of democracy that would be ideal. Implementing a direct democracy would create freedom where people’s choices and jobs wouldn’t be decided by other people, and this would display the values of individuality and liberty held by Prometheus and Gaea. Although there are a few other types of government that incorporate freedom and individuality, none of them are as strongly rooted in liberty and individuality as a direct democracy.
Works Cited
- Clark, Agatha. “What Are the Benefits of Democracy in Government?” 25 July 2018. https://classroom.synonym.com/benefits-democracy-government-6037.html
- Lunawat, Rajat. “Democracy Vs. Republic: What's the Difference Between Republic and Democracy?” 23 Aug. 2019. https://www.scienceabc.com/social-science/democracy-vs-republic-whats-the-difference.html
- Rand, Ayn. Anthem. Signet, 1995.
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