Requiem for the American Dream
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Biko Agozino I have tried to re-read Aristotle's book on Politics after listening to Chomsky here. I was surprised to hear Chomsky attribute to Aristotle the view that democracy is the least bad system of government whereas I thought that Aristotle regarded aristocracy by the rich as the best system or golden mean compared to royalty by a tyrant and to democracy as mob rule by the poor. Chomsky also attributed to Aristotle an effort to develop a welfare state as a way to reduce inequality but Aristotle is notorious for defining justice in a sexist patriarchal slave society where only few men qualified as citizens as everyone staying in their place. On re-reading Aristotle, I found this quote that appears to partially contradict the interpretation of Chomsky: "We have said that there are three true forms of government—royalty, aristocracy, polity; and three perversions—tyranny, oligarchy, democracy. Royalty and aristocracy have been already (?) discussed, for they are included in the perfect state; both imply a principle of virtue provided with external goods.—Of perversions, tyranny, which is the perversion of the best and most divine, is necessarily the worst. Not so bad is oligarchy; and last and least bad is democracy. A certain writer [Plato] is wrong in saying that democracy, although the worst of good constitutions, is the best of bad ones; for there is no best; all perversions are bad." Biko
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