TIL: The Best Form of Government

What's the best form of government? Winston Churchill reportedly arrived at the answer from the opposite end of the spectrum. "Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." That settles the question. Or does it?

In The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik reviews Jedediah Purdy's book, "Two Cheers for Politics: Why Democracy Is Flawed, Frightening-and Our Best Hope."

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As you can tell from the title, Purdy is on Winston Churchill's side. Both are on the side of democracy, whatever its flaws, being the best form of government. He's speaking in general, not picking any specific form of democracy (direct democracy, representative democracy, constitutional democracy, etc.).

Several points Gopnik makes in his review stand out.

Dr. [Samuel] Johnson thought that democracy was obviously silly, and Dr. Johnson, let us remember, was a prescient, 1619 kind of guy, seeing the impending American Revolution as a slaveholders’-protection enterprise. (“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?”)

Source: Alan Gopnik.

"Slaveholders' protection enterprise." That's one view of the American Revolution that is seldom presented in schoolbook histories. Heck, not even the Civil War is presented that way in Texas schools, at least not without vigorous objection from the right.

As for whether democracy and capitalism have to go hand-in-hand, Gopnik has this to say:

And though the struggle to maintain democratic institutions within a capitalist society has been intense, the struggle to maintain democratic institutions in anti-capitalist countries has been catastrophic. We do poorly, but the Chinese Communist Party does infinitely worse, even when it tilts toward some version of capitalism.

Source: Alan Gopnik.

Before deciding the best form of government, we should probably first agree on the purpose of politics within any form of government. Gopnik offers this:

Politics, as [Purdy] conceives it, is a way of getting all the people who agree with you to act in unison. This is a big part of democratic societies. Forming coalitions, assembling multitudes, encouraging action on urgent issues: these are all essential to a healthy country, even more than the business of filling in the circle next to a name you have just encountered for an office you know nothing about.

But the greatest service of politics isn’t to enable the mobilization of people who have the same views; it’s to enable people to live together when their views differ. Politics is a way of getting our ideas to brawl in place of our persons.

Source: Alan Gopnik.

So, is getting people to act in unison more important than voting? I might say that both are essential for a healthy country. It's that second benefit of politics done right, "enabling people to live together when their views differ," that is most important of all. American politics is in danger of losing that. Without it, society breaks down into violence.

Gopnik concludes by offering two cheers, or challenges, for politics, no matter what we consider to be the best form of government:

The first cheer for politics is surely for getting people to act in unison; the second is for getting them to stop.

Source: Alan Gopnik.

The form of government that achieves that is the best.