Competent leaders and informed citizens are required…

---

"Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses."

---

These words are from Pericles' funeral oration and speak of how great the Athenian concept of government was. I wish that we could apply their definition of democracy to the one that we have today. It would be a far better country, in my opinion, if more of the power of this country rested in all of the citizens' hands. Today our government makes deals and takes actions that we the people do not have full knowledge of, or if we did, we don't have any say in the matter. We are also not all equal in front of the law; I know I speak from experience. It seems like, today anyhow, that if you are born wealthy, you can sure get out of a lot of trouble. In this country, it now all comes down to money, connections, and who has more of it all. Today a person's actual ability doesn't always get them the job, nor does it seem like actual ability really even matters anymore, just look at today's leaders. Ability is now replaced by "equality" and secret connections. For example, do you think that a beggar would ever have a chance today at influencing politics easily, probably not, but you would expect that a very wealthy pharmaceutical tycoon would.

Then you have the privilege of connection, like a former Vice President' son, which gains someone undue influence that is not attached to any real ability. There is also another part of Pericles' speech that should still stand today, and that is about tolerance of others' private lives. During Pericles' time, no one asked about what happened behind closed doors nor did they care as long as the individual was an upstanding citizen. The Athenians would be very confused by today's lgbtq+ rights movement, back then they had no such thing because one's sexual preference did not determine one's value or ability to rise in society.

Back to the rich again, Pericles' wrote that "Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft. We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about." In today's world that couldn't be farther from the truth. Today's society places more emphasis on physical prowess in sports and followers on social media than on any actual intellectual ability. For example, a NASA scientist is usually an unknown but everyone knows who the Colts starting QB is or who the latest viral trend is. It also seems like today's wealthy don't wisely use their money, they more or less use it for extravagance and to boast. The biggest difference between the Greeks then and us now is how every citizen from the lowest to the highest was expected, as a responsibility, to participate in government. Until recently barely anyone turned out to vote, and even fewer even know the issues that are consuming our government.

Our citizens are no longer fully informed or participatory in our democratic process and we have better access to information and more freedom than they did during the time of Pericles' speech. Politics has become a career and is only participated in by a few, and in my opinion, this hinders the growth of our nation. How can a government govern properly if not even half of its citizens take part in the governmental process in a responsible and informed manner? Eventually, the government and the people will become disenfranchised and the whole thing will begin to fall apart.