Near the high point of Athens hegemony in the Aegean, controlling the Delian League, the City decided that metics (non-Athenians living in the city) could no longer become citizens. Within a generation, the democracy had been undercut by an oligarchic takeover. For some while thereafter, a restored democracy (which Aristotle didnt much like) ruled -- until crushed by the forces of the Macedonian kingdom and other external power and wealth [most of the wealth being Persian, in this case]. Conservatives always claim that democracies commit suicide by self-indulgence. Historically, that is false -- I know of no instance of such a demise of a democracy. Instead, democracies fail when vast sums of money outside of democratic control buy their destruction from external allies. Just sayin ...
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 03:07:38 +0000
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