Socrates & voting

Tonight I was watching a chilling news story on the percentage of the voting population that believes in nutty conspiracy theories like QAnon. Depressing and scary.

When I was in college I took a seminar on Plato/Socrates and the Republic. I was surprised to learn that Socrates was not a fan of democracy (Athens of his time was a direct democracy, though women and slaves and foreigners coulsn't vote).

Socrates just didn't have faith that the average person was capable of making a good voting choice without experience and education.

As a student, I was really disappointed in Socrates because of this, but I think now I'm beginning to understand why he felt the way he did. Is it only me, or do Alcibiades and the sweet shop owner seem a lot like Trump ;) .....