Philosopher Kings for the U.S.A.?

Folk refer to our government as a republic, or a representative democracy. Some now are calling it, with some justification, a oligarchy or better yet, a plutocracy. And it does seem more and more to the American public that the wealthy have the best access to and the most influence upon our country. Many wonder if what Alexander de Tocqueville, the American experience, will survive.

A democracy/republic is often slow to react and to change which is a definite liability is a rapidly changing world. In the past other countries looked at our freedom and economic success – the ability to better your place in life and envied the “American Dream”, nowdays many countries are looking elsewhere for models that will bring about their dreams.

Since reading Plato’s Republic I have always been fond of rule by Philosopher Kings, a group of people especially trained for the governance of a democratic city state. The philosopher kings envisioned by Plato were wisdom lovers.

The idea of special training for rulers appeals to me on a certain level. In most occupations we require particular education that is appropriate to the job they are to undertake. Colleges have people training in major and minors to equip them for certain work. Technical colleges provide training very specific to jobs. Every job requires some type of training even among the so-called unskilled workers.

But do we require in the way of training for the leaders of our nation? Nothing. Well next to nothing, some age requirements and for the president born American, but no real training. And with todays changes in higher education and even on the primary and secondary levels towards the more technical training versus overall knowledge the problems grow.

The liberal arts colleges and degrees are rapidly fading. All of this leads us to a less informed voting public. Do civics classes even exist in high schools anymore? Do colleges require basic education in history, languages, literature (especially the “great books”), mathematics, music, philosophy, political science, psychology, religious studies, science and theater? [Liberal arts.]

Today it would seem to me that political leaders at minimum should have degrees or at least significant training in political science, economics, history and hopefully philosophy.  

Philosopher Kings were also lifetime occupations. The founding fathers thought of congressional leaders as short termers. But they really thought of the wealthy folk who had the time and the education so they could take time off from the vocations to dedicate service to their country in terms of leadership. But that was long ago and far away from today’s world.

Term limits are popular and have some merit perhaps at the highest level, the presidency. But the popular idea that other governmental leaders  caught in the phrase, “they’ve been in office too long” argument seems nonsensical to me. If you educate a teacher, then give them practical experience in the classroom it would be absurd to fire them just when they are getting good at their jobs. (Though some want to do that for ill-informed economic reasons; newer teachers cost less and for good reason, they are not as competent.) This is also true in business and most every other occupation. Even in a youth culture, we still hold some respect for the training and wisdom of those who have expertise in one field or another.

Our system of electing anyone who can get the votes to office, generally by catering to special short term interests of a fickle society seems haphazard at best. And then we further mess up the process by turning these folk loose on the public in the form lobbyists to promote the interests of those who can afford them. It seems incestuous and ought to be illegal. It certainly has caused our country horrific problems and has led to the charges of our becoming a plutocracy.

Just some thoughts that crossed my mind on a rainy day.