Athenian Democracy and The Daily Show

Athenian Democracy ran roughly from 594 BC, to 322 BC.

Similar patterns over the years?

(SALEM) - The longest-running democracy in history relied on the same satiric comedy that peace-loving Americans count on today for logic and balance. It is hard to recall how many frustrating political moments have been quelled by Comedy Central's Daily Show; they prove we're not all crazy as the parade of 'news' items are led across the screens of U.S. networks. The same thing happened in Athens for about 272 years.

I hate to admit that I didn't know or had forgotten several of these points about the ancient Greeks. A recent newsroom conversation between Jerry Freeman and I piqued my curiosity and this led me to the Wikipedia page on this particular subject.

The reason Athenian democracy was able to last so long, is likely tied to the fact that Athenian democrats had something very comparable to free press.

Athenian Daily Show?

Greek actors on stage and the playwrights themselves, dominated political opinion; they made the idiots look like idiots and the people of this time gathered to watch the politically smart performances. This perhaps offers insight over why so few hardcore right-wing Americans appreciate or support art, theater, and are so vehemently anti-media. Their culture's ancient teaching, is that the popular and funny public performances wrought havoc on the men of the day who would resemble Newt Gingrich, etc., etc.

It is an an analogy for Comedy Central's Daily Show today, which injects logic and sense to deliver more truthful, meaningful and accurate portrayals of daily events than the actual news networks would ever do with rare exceptions. It looks like the Greeks were clearly among the early civilizations to define this system of entertainment-based checks and balances. I can see Jon Stewart on a Greek stage, the audience busting up; and God knows, the show's John Oliver would have been right there too.

It appears that the Athenian democrats created the very word, Democracy.

First, the word "democracy" (Greek: δημοκρατία) combines the elements dêmos (δῆμος, which means "people") and krátos (κράτος, which means "force" or "power"). In the words "monarchy" and "oligarchy", the second element arche (ἀρχή) means "rule", "leading" or "being first".

It is unlikely that the term "democracy" was coined by its detractors who rejected the possibility of a valid "demarchy", as the word "demarchy" already existed and had the meaning of mayor or municipal.

From Wikipedia

Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 508 BC. Athens is one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model, none were as powerful, stable, nor as well-documented as that of Athens.

It remains a unique and intriguing experiment in direct democracy, a political system in which the people do not elect representatives to vote on their behalf but vote on legislation and executive bills in their own right. Participation was by no means open, but the in-group of participants was constituted with no reference to economic class and they participated on a large scale. The public opinion of voters was remarkably influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theatres.

Solon (594 BC), Cleisthenes (508/7 BC), and Ephialtes (462 BC) all contributed to the development of Athenian democracy. Historians differ on which of them was responsible for which institution, and which of them most represented a truly democratic movement. It is most usual to date Athenian democracy from Cleisthenes, since Solon's constitution fell and was replaced by the tyranny of Peisistratus, whereas Ephialtes revised Cleisthenes' constitution relatively peacefully. Hipparchus, brother of the tyrant Hippias, was killed by Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who were subsequently honored by the Athenians for their alleged restoration of Athenian freedom.

The greatest and longest lasting democratic leader was Pericles; after his death, Athenian democracy was twice briefly interrupted by oligarchic revolution towards the end of the Peloponnesian War. It was modified somewhat after it was restored under Eucleides; the most detailed accounts are of this fourth-century modification rather than the Periclean system. It was suppressed by the Macedonians in 322 BC. The Athenian institutions were later revived, but the extent to which they were a real democracy is debatable.
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The democratic system of Athens had something called a Citizen-initiator

Ho boulomenos, 'he who wishes', or 'anyone who wishes'. This was the right of citizens to take the initiative: to stand to speak in the assembly, to initiate a public law suit, to propose a law before the lawmakers or to approach the council with suggestions.

There were drawbacks, of course, but from what I am reading, this early Greek version of democracy was highly functional and kept in check by public scrutiny. Needless to say, many were against this power-restricting system of human logic, just like today.

The current U.S. President, Barack Obama, continues to implement non citizen-originating laws that greatly remove the rights of Americans.

His predecessor, George W. Bush, did more to dismantle the rights of Americans than any president in U.S. history, and they are laws like Homeland Security, that will truly spell the end of democracy in the U.S.A. and already have and are.

Bill Clinton was the U.S. president who did far less damage to the U.S. system, in fact overseeing big changes to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which helps reporters every day in research.

George H.W. Bush sent the western forces to the Middle east as a precursor to the much larger conflict that his son would launch there; now fully outed as a conflict the U.S. coalition had no right to wage, that allows those who served in Iraq to know, in their heart of hearts, that there never was a reason for them to be there at all. That is a real bitch of a thing for any president to leave as a legacy.

Ronald Reagan was the beginning of the end of democracy in America. Hard right wing without exception; Reagan sold the soul of his nation down the river by dismantling care for the mentally ill, making deals to support murderous right wing rebels in Nicaragua who were intent on killing the country's poor farmers, and the piece of crap brought white drugs to America's streets. Prior to that as California's governor, he battled the students in Berkley who protested San Francisco restaurants that refused to hire Black people. If somehow his son had not ended up as such a good and honest man, I would think there was literally not a good thing about this movie actor who became a president. It was all a mirage. Of course he was media too, but back when news and film was fully vetted by the U.S. government before it aired.

James Carter was probably one of the very best U.S. presidents in history and the last to hold office who was working truly with his heart and concerned for the right things; a truly religious man who walked the walk. Not always, not perfect, but the last of an era.

Tim King in 2008, covering the Iraq War

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