Imperial Valley press., 1940-03-14
CHAPTER NINE

Democracy is like medicine. Both
of them existed in name at least in
ancient times as they do today and
therefore we talk glibly about the
democracy Of the Greeks and the
medicine of the Middle Ages as if
they could really be compared to our
own brand. But although the labels
packages which they cover have so
are the same. the contents of the
completely changed as to have be-
come something entirely different.
To modern man. for example. the
idea of democracy based entirely
upon slavery seems as absurd and
intolerable as the notion Of trying to
cure the plague by mumbling some
absurd hocuspocus over the body of
the patient while giving him drink
OF polluted water
Therefore. in all our discussions
of democracy as il was practiced in
ancient times. We should remember
that democracy. as We understand
il today. is of recent origin. indeed
not much more than half century
j
in government was originally
based upon the presumption that
several categories Of our fellow hu-
man beings, on account of their re-
ligion the color of their skin or the
state of their bank account. must
forever be excluded from all partici-
patton in the management of their
own affairs.
Yes, even SO enlightened and lib
eral a statesman as Thomas Jeffer-
son, probably the most intelligent
among the founders of the Repub-
lie, wrote his noble sentence about
all men being born free while he
owned seventy-tWo black slaves.
Which invariably makes people
ask. How was it possible that peO-
pie of the intellectual and spiritual
integrity of PericleS and a Jeffer-
son could accept without any qualm;
of conscience a system which they
must have known to be completely
wrong"
To which, after considerable medi,
tation, I would like to offer the fol-
lowing answer. 1t probably had
dawned upon them that slavery
was something that could not be
tolerated in any sort of community
which prided itself upon being dem
ocratic. But after all, life somehow
or other had to go on and before the
invention Of the Iron Slaves there
was no other way of keeping society
going than with the help of human
chattels.
The founders of all Old democra
cies liked the idea of slavery just
as little as you and l like the idea
OF people being obliged to work in
cur coal-mines. But We need coal
to keep on living and SO we discover
all sorts of plausible alibiS to make
ourselves forget that hundreds OF
thousands of men must spend most
OF their waking hours digging coal
in some dangerous hole in the
ground.
Meanwhile we are forever reaS-
surfing our troubled cOnScienceS that
soon our scientists will invent a
substitute for coal and then there
will be an end to all our worries
But We forget that when that hap
pens there will be a flock of other
difficulties because these coal-min-
ers will be out of job and will go
hungry.
Our ancestors were less afraid
Of unpleasant facts than We are
and they therefore realized very
clearly what would happen were
they TO give equal rights to their
slaves
For there was no other way out
and when there is no other way out,
people can invent the most marVe-
lous Of arguments to fool them
selves. as most Of the inhabitants
Of the different totalitarian states
are doing this very day. Democracy
had proved failure and Hitleri5m
and StaliniSm were the only way
out. That is the old, old vicious cir
Gle which has always been the curse
Of democracy And it will continue
10 be that way until someone comes
along and shows US how to break
in the end may destroy US all,
THE MONARCHIES SPROUTED
FROM ROOTS DEEP IN THE DE-
MOCRACIES OF THE EARLY
DAYS.
CHAPTER TEN
There was one other reason why
dtmOcracies were so slow TO develop
Democracy as a form Of government
IS very apt to be extremely waste
full. And if we are to draw whatever
lessons history offers us upon the
subject, we feel inclined 10 come
70 the conclusion that in our mod
nrn world, only very prosperous
Countries can afford to maintain
democratic form of government.
This, of course, did not hold true
Of few of the agricultural democ-
~acies Of the Middle Ages, such as
we're then to be found in several of
he Swiss oantons and in Iceland
and here and there among the tribes
which inhabited the vast northern
olain of E,urOpe'S mainland But