‘Is democracy on the march or is it in retreat?’ screams a headline in the Washington Times. The question was put to Condoleezza Rice last week, and I must say, for a little-to-show-for-it secretary of state, she answered very well: ‘Freedom does not advance on a steady trajectory — setbacks and detours should be expected…’
Americans seem to be obsessed with democracy, now even more so than during the Cold War. We (ancient) Greeks take credit for it, but don’t really consider it for others, only for ourselves. Athens became a democratic city-state in various stages. The poorest were eventually made eligible for the magistracies, but the generalship always remained in aristocratic hands. When someone got too big for his breeches, like Themistocles, out he went. But he craftily persuaded the Persian Xerxes to attack the Greeks in Salamis, only to score an even greater victory than Marathon, and it was all his own. The victory, that is. Old Themistocles even managed to persuade the Spartan admiral to stay away, making it a one-man show. Something like what Ahmed Chalabi tried with Bush and Blair where Iraq was concerned, except for the fact Chalabi was a conman-crook whereas Themistocles was a very shrewd and intelligent patriot.
The point the great Greek historian Taki is trying to make is that empires fall into place not by design, but by accident. The Athenian empire began with alliances against Persia — the Confederacy of Delos — which eventually Athens transformed into an empire. At first Spartan admirals were in command, but the Ionians disliked Dorian discipline and decided on the Athenian Kimon, the rich son of Miltiades, the victor of Marathon. So what about democracy, then? The Spartans took care of that little bother.
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