Ancient philosophers didn’t like democracy.
Cicero, the great Roman defender of natural rights, is a case-in-point. So as Americans gear up for another presidential election, it’s worth taking a look at his reasons for rejecting popular government.
Politics played an outsized role in Cicero’s life, so it’s not surprising that he wrote and spoke a great deal about government. Cicero lived during a time of great turmoil in Rome. He was born in 106 B.C. and saw his beloved republic plunged into an escalating series of civil wars—wars that culminated in the establishment of the Roman Empire. The greatest champion of republican government in Rome’s history, Cicero was eventually executed for opposing the first Roman emperor, Octavian.
All this is to say that for this great thinker, republican principles were not an abstraction, but a way of being. His words have all the weight of a life dedicated to a dying tradition.
Cicero examines politics in his work De Re Publica, or “On the Republic.” Although some of the six volumes have been lost to history, surviving excerpts are recognized as important contributions to political philosophy. In it, Cicero tries to reason his way to the ideal form of government.
Following the Greek philosophers whom he admired, Cicero frames his inquiry in terms of a dialogue. Throughout his work, characters try to discover the form of government that comes closest to a commonwealth, in which the government is just, stable, and good. Here is what they have to say about democracy:
‘When the multitude orders punishments to be inflicted in any manner that it pleases, ordering, seizing, keeping, dissipating everything whatever they choose, can you then Lælius, deny that to be a democracy, where all things belong to the people?’
‘There is nothing,’ said Lælius, ‘I would sooner deny to be a commonwealth, than where all things are in the power of the multitude … this sort of mob is as much a tyrant as if it were one man. Indeed it is more mischievous, for nothing is more ferocious than the wild beast which assumes the name and form of the people.’
In fact, Cicero argues that if your choices are limited to monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, democracy is the worst form of government. For him (along with many of the Greek philosophers who inspired him) democracy was an invitation to mob rule. That’s why he said that democratic governments only function when their powers are limited by the rights of individuals.
Yet interestingly enough, Cicero didn’t think that the ideal government was monarchical or aristocratic. Rather, he said that the best form of government combines elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. That recommendation would later prove influential. After all, when the Founding Fathers set out to create the U.S. Constitution, they followed Cicero’s lead. The government they designed contained a mix of monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic elements.
For example, the president is the clearest analog to an American king. As a single figure, he commands the respect of the whole country.
The Senate and the Supreme Court, on the other hand, form something like an American aristocracy. Members of the Supreme Court are appointed to their roles by virtue of their excellence as judges. Similarly, senators were originally appointed to their roles by state legislatures. In this fashion, the Founding Fathers tried to ensure that important positions were staffed by people who had demonstrated competence.
As for the democratic principle? We see it in the House of Representatives, which holds elections every two years. The link between politicians and the people is always strongest in the House. And since it is the House that controls spending, the Founders wanted to ensure that the power of the purse was subject to public scrutiny.
Democracy clearly plays an important role in American government—one that has only grown with the passage of time. But to understand why the United States was not designed as a pure democracy, you have to look beyond American history. As it turns out, there is a lot that we can learn by looking to ancient thinkers like Cicero.
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Image credit: public domain
