
tizenship, more aggressive collection of tribute from allies, denying democracy and freedom to Athens’s empire) that left Athens in decline. So again, even the noble populist in Thucydides’s tale brings about the destruction of the state.Thucydides’s final illustration of the danger of populism is Athens’s decision to invade Sicily. The quarreling demagogues who run Athens after Pericles’s death urge the assembly to undertake a risky expedition to Sicily (the general selected to lead it is recalled en route to stand trial for corruption) and end the Peloponnesian war, which by then had gone on for decades. A democratized Athens lacks the elites to urge moderation, and the size of the fleet committed gets bid up far beyond what Athens could afford to lose. An inexperienced politician, an opponent of the expedition, argues for an astronomically large force, hoping that will prevent the invasion being approved—it is instead approved at the force levels he advocated. When the expedition flounders, Sparta’s eventual victory is assured.In all three pivotal decisions, and in the trajectory of Athens, populists wreak damage on the body politic. Elites are the voices of sensibility, overruled by passionate argument from populists. It is the exact reverse of what President Trump and his closest political advisers believe about themselves and our country. So it is odd that the work of Thucydides, elites’ champion, is among their favorite books.Πηγή: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/07/the-summer-of-misreading-thucydides/533859/
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