Imagine a ship struggling in an endless storm.
Its captain, though strong and commanding, is a terrible navigator.
Neither he nor his crew have been trained to sail, yet they relentlessly vie for control through bribery, flattery, and even mutiny.
In the crow's nest sits a true navigator, but her knowledge of the stars, winds, and seasons is dismissed by the crew below.
This dysfunctional vessel is the ship of state, a thought experiment devised by Plato to illustrate his frustration with democracy, specifically the kind of democracy practiced in Athens from the fifth to fourth centuries BCE.
Unlike the forms of representative democracy practiced today, where voters elect representatives to enact legislation on their behalf, Athenians used a type of direct democracy.
While Athenian jurors and most officials were selected by lottery rather than election, every law was voted on directly by the citizens of Athens, specifically free men born to Athenian parents.
Women, foreigners, and enslaved individuals had no voting power.
Plato thought this system was destined for ruin, and despite the many differences between Athens' government and modern representative democracies, many of his fears still ring true today.
One of Plato's two major concerns with direct democracy was its vulnerability to charismatic public speakers.
