Whenever one brings up democracy as it existed in ancient Athens (which lasted much longer than our "democracy" has been extant, by the way), some people have an almost knee-jerk reaction and dismiss it without further examination or discussion:   "But the Athenians kept slaves!" and/or "But only men were allowed to participate! Women were excluded!"

This is true. But there were Athenians at the time who protested both of these things, saying that slavery is wrong, especially so in a democracy, and that the exclusion of women from politics and public life is an egregious waste of half of the intellectual power of Athens.

But Paul Woodruff's book, First Democracy, examines a number of surprising characteristics of Athenian democracy: where it was far more successful in many ways than our own version of it, including identifying and dealing with potential problems and possible abuses that could spring up and undercut the benefits of living in a democratic society. Many of these problems are current in our own government, and we would be wise to examine how the Athenians dealt with them.

There were no political parties. There were special interest groups, of course, but things were set up so that none of them could gain enough power to really influence much of anything.

The Athenians valued education very highly, not just for learning a trade, but for intellectual development and the ability to observe and think critically, something our schools don't do very well today. Their educational system was excellent. Along with this, it was regarded as the duty of every Athenian citizen to keep current on what was happening in the world and be fully aware of what was going on in the government. There was a practical personal reason for this that went beyond just being a member of "an informed electorate."

Are you ready for this? The elected officials of the Athenian government were not voted into office. They were chosen from the citizenry at large by lottery. And it was your duty as a citizen of Athens to be fully prepared to participate knowledgeably in deliberations and to make wise decisions for the benefit of the whole city-state. And you would be held responsible for how you performed in office. At the end of your term, you would be judged by a jury of 501 citizens and your performance evaluated. You would be lauded or condemned (even to the extent of being banished from Athens for ten years if you really screwed up) on the basis of how well you did.

501, a group large enough so it would be next to impossible to bribe, and an odd number so there would be no "hung juries."

And in time of threatening war:   If they were attacked from outside (say, by Sparta) they would defend themselves, of course. But if there was any choice about it at all, it was put to a vote of the entire citizenry, not just a single official or a cabal. And the wealthy were not in any position to push a war so they could profiteer on it (think Dick Cheney and Halliburton). In fact, the wealthy might be very reluctant to go to war, because to finance the war, they would be assessed according to their wealth:   "Spiros, you are to provide two triremes for the fleet."

The Assembly—their Congress—consisted of the first 6,000 (that's right—6,000; far too large and fluid a group to bribe or lobby) male citizens to arrive at a designated hillside near the Acropolis. If less than 6,000 showed up, the magistrates would scour the public places and round up enough citizens so business could proceed. The tyranny of majority rule was obviated because they had laws limiting what the Assembly could do, and any law passed by the Assembly was subject to review by special citizen councils. How they managed without a copy of "Roberts' Rules of Order," I have no idea, but they did manage.

It was far from perfect. But in many ways, it was a lot better than what goes on in Washington, D. C.

I've just touched lightly on a couple of salient points. First Democracy is well worth a careful read. You'll find it very surprising and most enlightening.

Don Firth

P. S. When you've finished that one, I've got a couple of other good ones to recommend.