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Nov 1 14 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Ancient Greek thinkers like Socrates and Plato hated democratic elections.

They saw democracy as part of an endless cycle of regimes — destined to slip into mob rule.

But Polybius knew how to break the cycle... (thread) 🧵 Image
Socrates likened the state to a ship. The uneducated voting in elections is like a ship taken over by a crew with no knowledge of sailing.

When selecting a captain, the crew is easily swayed by whoever is best at persuasion — not navigation. Image
Voting, thought Socrates, is a skill to be learned.

In Plato's 5 forms of government, democracy ranks only above tyranny, which it will inevitably become.

Why? Image
Systems that maximize freedom and equality lead us to pursue selfish pleasures, not the common good.

When votes are cast based not on what is good, but what is desired by the masses, demagogues emerge. Image
Like the ship, he with the best rhetoric wins by playing on selfish interests and emotions, not reason.

Once in charge, he creates a system of dependancy: "He is always stirring up some war so that the people may be in need of a leader..." Image
So, Plato thought the ideal system was aristocracy.

Voting should be a profession like any other, and only those with expertise should participate. Those with knowledge of "good" (the philosophers) should rule. Image
But Plato admitted this too is doomed to fail. When aristocratic rulers are no longer motivated purely by reason, but prioritize public approval, things fall apart again.

200 years later, a man named Polybius proposed a brilliant solution... Image
Polybius argued that regimes were in an endless cycle, and the three basic forms of government are destined to degenerate into their lower forms — and lead back to anarchy.

But there's a way to fix it... Image
To break the cycle, you need to combine elements of each system. Polybius admired this in the Roman Republic:

Consuls (monarch-like leaders), Senate (aristocratic body), and Assemblies (democratic element). Image
This idea of separation of powers was developed by Montesquieu, and led ultimately to the American system devised by the Founding Fathers:

The Presidency (monarch-like), the Senate (aristocratic) and the House (democratic) — plus the Judiciary to add balance. Image
There isn't a true aristocratic element (by birth or wealth), but Senators are in some sense.

They have longer terms than representatives, represent states not populations, and were originally chosen by state legislatures, not the public (until 1913). Image
Going back to Socrates, his concern was that democracies are unsafe in the hands of ordinary people.

But instead of a privileged voting class, he wanted everyone to think rationally enough to become worthy of participating. Image
Democracy, he thought, is only as good as the education system surrounding it — and Jefferson had much the same concern:

"If a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was & never will be". Image
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More from @Culture_Crit

Dec 20
I asked X: "Which book changed your perspective on life more than any other?"

After THOUSANDS of replies, these were the top 50.

The ultimate 2025 reading list… (bookmark this) 🧵 Image
Note: Titles within each section are ordered roughly by how frequently they were suggested.

By FAR the most popular suggestion of all was the Holy Bible — so here are the top theological works...
Theology:

1. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
2. Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
3. The City of God, Augustine of Hippo
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5. Confessions, Augustine of HippoImage
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Dec 17
The fall of Rome is widely misunderstood.

It wasn't invasion, disease or famine that truly brought it to its knees.

Rome collapsed because the birth rate did… (thread) 🧵 Image
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The same is true of urban populations throughout history... Image
Rome's fertility problem was identified as early as 49 BC by Caesar, and Augustus later tried to encourage childbearing.

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Dec 15
This is "Christ the King" in Poland, Europe's tallest statue of Jesus (notice the people for scale).

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It was erected to mark the victory at Stalingrad, a crucial turning point in WW2 — 280 feet high. Image
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Dec 12
Did you know the Mona Lisa has a twin?

You don't realize how bad a state it's in until you see the two side-by-side.

And it shows why restorations in art are a major problem… (thread) 🧵 Image
The Mona Lisa desperately needs to be restored. Its varnish has left it badly discolored and it continues to deteriorate.

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And since Lisa has lost them in the original, we can see how her eyebrows would've looked... Image
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Dec 10
Hardly any of Ancient Rome's great wonders still stand today — they were lost to the Middle Ages.

But why couldn't medieval people recreate, or even maintain what the Romans had built?

An ancient technology had been long forgotten… (thread) 🧵 Image
When you see reconstructions of Imperial Rome you have to wonder where it all went — a city of 1 million people with immense infrastructure.

How exactly was so much lost? Image
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Take the Forum of Nerva — it reverted to marshland after the Western Roman Empire fell, and simple houses squatted inside it for centuries as it crumbled.

Today, nothing remains but its foundations. Image
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Dec 8
Reminder: this was built during what they told you were the dark ages.
The dark ages produced the most divine vessels of light ever seen.

This is Sainte-Chapelle, just around the corner from the newly resurrected Notre-Dame. Image
For those saying "dark ages" only ever referred to the early medieval period (up to the 10th century)...

The term is and was quite commonly used to refer to the entire medieval age — but more to the point, is meant as a slander against medieval Catholicism as backward.
Read 4 tweets

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