A lesson from an ancient law court

 I am a democrat, with a lowercase “D.” I believe in democracies. 

That love of self-determination in government probably influenced my decision to become a newspaperman. Good decisions in a democracy depend on good information, spread broadly.

I believe that democracy should be as direct as possible, that citizens should be well informed an active. In my mind, the chief sign of health in a government is the level of public engagement. 

But people in crowds can sometimes let their feelings run away from their senses. Through the years, democracies have put systems of checks on popular feelings. Those in the judicial system are particularly valuable.

Yesterday’s note was about the legal system in ancient Athens, which operated without many of the checks we now take for granted. 

Under that system, the Athenians killed Socrates.

During the Peloponnesian War, an Athenian fleet won a badly needed victory over the Spartans at Arginusae. But rough weather prevented the ships assigned to pick up survivors off sinking ships from doing their job, and the admirals in charge were focused on trying to crush the enemy.

The Athenians, hearing news of victory, celebrated wildly. On hearing the details of the lost crews, they took vengeance in court. They put admirals on trial and executed six of them.

When you are fighting a war of survival, executing leaders who have proven skills and abilities isn’t a good idea. Athens was a great democracy in the ancient world. But the citizens of Athens lost their independence and their democracy within a couple of years of that great victory at sea.

I think that the kind of direct democracy that allows ordinary citizens to sue doctors and medical businesses as a way of enforcing the state's abortion law is a bad idea. At least one other great democracy tried a similar legal strategy, and we know what happened.