Extended Essays 2021

Thus, it has been clearly shown that democracy from a rational sense is impracticable. This is

partially due to its inability to offer political stability, as seen through the capitol storming

perpetrated by Trump supporters. Additionally, the nature of democracy (whether its direct or

indirect) results in a leader who is unaware of best interests of society, as seen when Trump is

described as “oppressive” and “unjust” (adjectives associated with a tyrant by Plato).

We can deduce Trump exhibits the qualities in which Plato forecasts a democrat will possess

when he degenerates into a tyrant. Trump frequently manipulates other politicians, resulting in

poorly worked out ideas. Additionally, he manipulates his people, which is evident when he

encourages supporters t o storm the capitol and “watche s the violence play out on television

from the safety of the White House”. Thus, Plato’s argument supersedes Mill’s because

rationally and empirically, he predicted the emergence of Trumpism in the United States.

Yet, this d oes not mean we should disregard Mill’s argument as although their arguments

towards democracy are rather contradictory, they both criticise the regime for differing reasons.

Mill’s describes the ‘tyranny of the majority’ and notes the power abuse on the p art of state

officials, whereas Plato argues that the stability of the society and the excess of freedom are

incompatible. These clear objects further support Plato’s predictions of democracy.

Democracy has notable benefits, however, when contextualised within the United States in the

21 st century, there is no doubting that it led to the ruling of the United States by a tyrant. Plato

predicted that when a democrat failed, he would rise again and continue to gain the likes of the

community until he returned back to power, and this parallels Trump’s current attempt at rising

to power. I personally am not prepared to live in a democratic nation, in the fear that it would

eventually be run by a tyrannical man.

Finally, politics is something I enjoy immensely, and through my external studies of current

affairs and researching the nature of political philosophy for this paper, I have learnt to

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