“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.” — Teddy Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican President who was committed to checking the power of elites. His remark that I quote above is apt for our time. I don’t know if it was true then, or if it’s true now, but the thought that it might be true gets my hackles up.
If we looked at every government of every nation, tribe, or empire in the recorded history of homo sapiens, and we calculated what percentage of those governments were designed to benefit the majority, and for how long those benign governments were able to sustain such a system, I would guess (I’m not a social or political scientist) that the percentage would be small, and the time would be short.
I would guess that most systems of government have been designed to reward elites, so that they (the elite) could control the affairs of the people. For such governments, there was no need to win the assent of the governed. They only needed to retain the loyalty of the elite. If the people didn’t go along with the program, they were hanged, tortured, drawn or quartered.
Aside from our current western democracies, one moment in human history stands out, and that is the brief moment of democracy in the city-state of Athens starting around 500 BCE.
Athenians were not perfect according to our standards: They kept slaves, and women did not participate in public life. But they were committed to winning the assent of the governed. And they did so by developing a practice they called rhetoric. We call it public speaking.
Public speaking is a tool designed 2500 years ago, not to concentrate power in the hands of an elite, but to ensure that decisions are made to benefit the majority of people in a society. The Athenians said rhetoric was needed to govern the souls of men. The fact that these tools of power have frequently been used to ignite prejudice, hatred and violence does not diminish their importance to society: what makes a speaker harmful to his fellow man is not his technique, but his purpose or his ignorance.
Teddy Roosevelt’s remark seems to frame the key issue for our upcoming election. I hope the candidates will address the issue openly and honestly. Is the remark true? If so, to what extent? What is the evidence? And what can we, and should we, do about it?
Or is it true, and rightly so, because 99% of governments since the dawn of time had it right? That it’s best to reward an elite so they can manage the affairs of the people.