Volume 2, Issue 9
22 Apr 2017
 In our last issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy we looked at the inferiority of bronze democracy to the silver rule of law and golden despotism. Whereas both despotism and the rule of law suppress the fallen nature of man in society, democracy actually crowns and enthrones it by handing over societal control to the unbridled passions of the majority. We also learned in our last issue that democracy is not the child of Christianity, as most Christians believe, but was born in a pagan society with the same motive that brought about the Fall of man and the failure of Babel’s ill-fated tower builders. It was inaugurated and advocated by the ancient Athenians in an attempt to unite themselves in an all-out effort to make a name for themselves, not to glorify the name of God, the purpose for which man was created.
In this issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy we will show how democracy, far from being the champion of individual rights and liberties, as it is proposed to be, is actually, as the Greek Philosopher Plato argued, the worst form of tyranny—the tyranny of the majority. Another ancient Greek, Thucydides, the famous Greek historian, argued that democracy inevitably degenerates into the “rule of the foremost man.” In other words, democratic majorities always end up endowing the most popular populist of their day with dictatorial powers to champion the people’s cause. Whether it is seen in majority rule or in the majority’s elected ruler, the end result of democracy is the same, tyranny!
Pericles, the ancient Greek statesman to whom the tracks of modern-day democracy must be traced, was unquestionably the greatest orator of his day. His masterfully persuasive rhetoric, by which he could get his legislative preferences passed and all personally disapproved of bills defeated, resulted in his procuring, for all practical purposes, political control over ancient Athens. One of Pericles’ political opponents, a famous Greek wrestler, wryly complained of his foe’s formidable rhetorical skills. He said of Pericles, “Whenever I throw him, he argues that he was not thrown and convinces the very people who saw him fall.”
As Pericles proved, and the world has repeatedly witnessed ever since, democracy inevitably leads to a cult of personality around its elected leader. Therefore, the real power behind democracy is populism, the belief that the majority’s elected leader is the foremost champion of the rights of the people. With such a moniker penned on him by the electorate, a democracy’s elected leader can get away with practically anything he does, as long as it is done in the name of the people. History is replete with examples of democratically elected leaders who usurped autocratic rule over society under the ruse of doing so for the rights and good of the people. No better example can be pointed to than the French Revolution, in which Madame Roland, one of the original revolutionaries, lamented, before placing her head on the block of the guillotine, “Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!”
Ironically, the divine right of kings, the European political doctrine that once justified monarchical absolutism by asserting that kings derived their right to rule over men from God, is replaced in a pure democracy with the human bestowed right of mandated political power given to the populace’s elected premier. Although a democracy’s elected leader does not mount a throne and wear a crown, he exercises immense political power over society. As opposition to the king was once equated to opposition to God, opposition to a democratically elected leader is equated to opposition to the people. It is under this guise that a popular leader of a democracy is able to sway monarchical power over an adoring public, a public blinded by the stardust in their eyes to their elected leader’s encroachments upon their rights and liberties.
Plato, who taught democracy was the worst of all tyrannies—the tyranny of the majority—also taught that “democracy originates when the poor win.” According to Plato, the poor “take little interest in politics” and only come to the democratic assembly to get their share of the loot. “Their [elected] leaders,” Plato maintained, “deprive the rich of their property, give some to the masses, and keep the rest for themselves.” Plato furthered argued that this championing of the poor over the propertied inevitably leads to the people defecting from democracy and becoming a bloodthirsty mob, which blindly supports its leader, because he promises them the redistribution of wealth, in his carrying out of unlawful confiscations and executions. In the end, the people’s elected leader “becomes a wolf instead of a man— that is, a tyrant.”
Alcibiades, a famous Greek military commander and politician, once disparaged democracy as nothing more than “an acknowledged foolishness.” Alcibiades’ sentiments about democracy were shared by Plato, as well as Plato’s mentor Socrates. According to Plato, Socrates observed that Athenian democracy insisted upon experts when building a house or a ship. If someone without expertise tried to give advice in such matters, the Athenian assembly, “even if the person [was] very handsome and rich and noble,” would refuse to listen to them. Instead, they would “laugh and hoot” at them until they were “shouted down” and either voluntarily withdrew from the assembly or were forcefully expelled by “the sergeants-at-arms.” On the other hand, Socrates observed that when it came to the important matters of state anyone was allowed to speak—carpenter, tinker, cobbler, passenger and shipowner, rich and poor, noble and commoner—and nobody was ever rebuked “for trying to give advice when he had no knowledge and had not been taught.”
It was Winston Churchill who famously said, “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” Did you know that in early America voters in public elections were required to be property owners and taxpayers? Furthermore, they had to pass a poll test to prove they were informed enough to cast an informed ballot. Our country initially understood, what it has long since forgotten, that only invested and informed voters could be trusted with their hands on the rudder of our ship of state. Today, unlike yesterday, the vast majority of the American electorate is uninvested and ignorant.
The ignorance of the average voter in America today is absolutely appalling. He or she knows absolutely nothing about American history, civics, or our Constitution. What’s worse is that the average voter in America today doesn’t care to know. They feel no need whatsoever to be smart in the voting booth. Instead, they punch their ballot strictly according to their own self-interest, regardless of how detrimental their vote may ultimately prove to be to national interests. Our present-day plight at the polls reminds me of the words of Thomas Jefferson: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
When it comes to being invested in our country, much of today’s electorate is the opposite. Instead of contributing to government, many voters today are on the government dole. Almost half of our present-day population is on government dependence. Soon the majority of American voters will be counting on government largesse for their livelihoods, which will result in their ballots being punched on the sole basis of continuing public assistance. All of this has led our nation to the brink of financial collapse, which Alexander Fraser Tytler predicted to be the inevitable fate of all democracies.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.” (Alexander Fraser Tytler)
No openminded present-day American can deny the truth of Plato’s philosophy about democracy and Tytler’s prediction of democracy’s inevitable collapse over loose fiscal policy. For instance, the foolishness of American democracy is perfectly illustrated in what is known today as ObamaCare. According to the chief architect of this loathsome legislation, Jonathan Gruber, our government knew it could pull off this deception of the American public because of the public’s gullibility and stupidity. What other explanation is there for the passage of a law fraudulently written by Machiavellian bureaucrats, passed unread by political ideologues, and forced upon a mute and milquetoast public that allows its pockets to be picked by its government in order to pay for its government’s takeover of its healthcare?
Our national debt is soon to top twenty trillion dollars. Unbeknownst to most Americans today, our federal government’s current annual tax revenue is insufficient to fund our present entitlement programs and to pay the interest on our national debt. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that our financial house of cards is soon to collapse. The only question is: “What will happen when it does?”
As it has been accurately asserted, those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it. During past national crises American presidents have usurped autocratic power in violation of the rights and liberties of the American people. Good examples of this are Woodrow Wilson during War World I and Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression and World War II. In fact, in Roosevelt’s case, were it not for congressional opposition to his “New Deal” and the Supreme Court ruling it unconstitutional, we would have ceased to be a representative republic and been transformed into a socialist state.
More recently, we have witnessed President George W. Bush justify his nationalizing of American banks and industry in order to prevent an economic collapse. Bush claimed at the time to be “abandoning free-market principles to save the free-market system.” President Obama went even further, usurping unprecedented dictatorial powers during his presidency. With little or no congressional opposition and a rubber-stamping Supreme Court, Obama was able orchestrate our government’s takeover of our healthcare and to issue executive fiats by which he forced down our throats is socialist agenda.
In light of all of this, ask yourself this question, “What unprecedented dictatorial power will our government usurp over us when our nation’s inevitable financial collapse finally comes?” In addition, ask yourself, “How much of a tyrant will the occupant of the Oval Office become when a desperate nation desperately turns to him as its savior?” Will our financial collapse, just as Alexander Fraser Tytler predicted, not be followed by a dictatorship?
Don Walton
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