Allegory of the Cave and American Politics

By Zach Foster

Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.

And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.

…they are prisoners…Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

--Plato, The Republic, Book Seven

Why is it that human beings often sink to the level of self-imposed mediocrity?  Everyone has heard the phrase “ignorance is bliss,” though most pretend that they are neither ignorant nor blissful.  Nonetheless, they go about their daily lives, maintained with the status quo and ignore both the successes and the problems surrounding them.  Though this image is a painting of all people, it especially applies to Americans in the following context: Why do so many Americans refuse to take an active part in the preservation of liberty?

American citizens—especially those who profess themselves to be educated, civic-minded, and aware of the political atmosphere—continually vote less and less often at the polls, whether it’s a municipal election they miss or even the last Presidential election.  The knowing and conscious failure of citizens to go to the polls and vote retranslates, in the minds of those actually in favor of upholding and preserving liberty, as “Hey!  Despots!  Please prey on me!  I didn’t vote, nor am I remotely aware of what actually goes on!  I’m just wearing this campaign button because my favorite celebrity endorsed this idiot!  I obviously don’t know you’re after my freedom, so go ahead and take it…  I won’t miss what I never used!”  Every once in a while some blow-hard will give lip service to the First Amendment to justify some ridiculously violent, vulgar, and utterly pointless design on his t-shirt, but seldom will the same blow-hard exercise his Constitutional right to elect a President and a Congress—or even a mayor.  People like this are the very prisoners Plato writes about, who see shadows on the cavern wall and think they know the world.  Better yet, these people aren’t even aware that they’re in chains!

“Municipal elections are unimportant!  Who cares about a mayor or some old farts on a city council?”  Similar words were echoed by some friends of the authors’ near the last municipal election in his hometown.  The author was feeling very much like the escaped prisoner who actually saw the world and came back to share his discovery with his mates in the cave so that they might also be free.  The author argued the following: the City of Los Angeles operates on an annual budget of $6.75 billion.  New York City operates on an annual budget of $40 billion.  Even small suburban cities operate on millions of dollars a year.  Much of this money comes from the citizens’ property taxes and other hidden taxes, fees, and living expenses.  Mayors and city councils are the individuals that make city laws and control how these millions are used (or misused).  They also control how their municipal Police will be able to operate, what the laws regarding individual property and housing will be, whether or not there will be a curfew at night time, whether to spend money building a library or a youth center, whether to zone an area for churches and mom-and-pop shops or for porn shops and cheap motels, if a local field is to be made into a nature preserve, a public park, or sold as private property to a corporate bidder, etc.  A small “elected” body of people (elected only by whatever majority from within the minority that actually showed up to vote) controls all these things.

Continued in Part 2: Guess how corrupt that city council became.  And you haven't even met the Congressman!