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Book review: How Fascism Works
“Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels once declared, ‘This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy, that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed.’” (J. Stanley, How Fascism Works, ch. 2)
Goebbels wasn’t the first one to make this point. Plato, in the Republic, proposed a ranking of systems of government that went something like this:
Aristocracy, rule by the best, meaning the wisest, people. It is the ideal system described in the Republic, where the philosophers are kings (obviously…).
Timocracy, the next best option. Here leaders are chosen not among the wise, but among the valiant. Sparta was the example par excellence.
Oligarchy, where the rich (i.e., neither the wise nor the valiant) are in charge, and tend to look mostly after their own interests. The modern United States is, practically if not formally, an oligarchic nation.
Democracy, which at the time meant rule by the simple majority of eligible people (i.e., excluding women and slaves). For Plato, democracy represented the sort of mob rule that dominated Athens and led to the execution of Socrates.
Tyranny, characterized by a strong man who imposes order at the cost of widespread injustice.
