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Crime was down recently in the
nation’s capital but then I found out that Congress
was in recess and although that just may be a
coincidence it’s still too early to tell if the two
are in somehow related.
A
funny thing our democracy, we say we don’t want
European style governments and yet we elect
seemingly well meaning people who sometimes end up
sounding or even acting like spoiled royalty,
despots or petty dictators anyway. Of course, as
Americans we can eventually vote them out of office
but sometimes not until long after they have caused
their damage.
I
think the ancient Greeks had the right idea. In 500
B.C. after tossing out the dictator Phipias in the
city-state of Athens the people came up with an
interesting and unique solution for keeping bad
politicians and their policies from hurting them
further.
Their plan was this. With just 6,000 votes the people could
exile any political figure they believed might
do them harm in the future. The key word here is
‘might.’ That reasoning, along with the votes was
all that was required to send the politcos packing
for a period of…get this, ten years.
Okay, so let’s just pause and think about this for a
moment…the people could vote to exile any political
figure who might do them harm for ten years?
Hmm? Any politician…
A
hack idea? Who knows? It’s all Greek to me anyway
but then so is democracy so maybe it’s worth a
closer look.
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