Sipping a cappuccino (NOT at Starbucks), OO and I recently discussed democracy. This is what I remember of our conversation.

OO. I am looking forward to the next elections, an opportunity to make our views heard and to re-establish real freedom and democracy in this country. I am sure you yourself will vote.

JM. I hope not to disappoint you as I also love freedom and democracy. However, I have reflected on the matter and concluded that our current elections are a useless ritual and a waste of time and gas to reach the polling station.

OO. But voting is the very essence of democracy…

JM. Please tell me how you define democracy to assure myself that we are talking about the same thing.

OO. ‘Democracy’ is a Greek word and it is what it is, government by the people.

JM. If you think so, I am afraid it is a delusion. Real government by the people vanished long ago. Today’s democracy is a fiction, built on the wiliness of a few and the gullibility of the many.

OO. Come on, you are joking.

JM. Not at all. In ancient Athens public offices were allotted via a lottery among the householders. Lottery is the one and only real democracy. Any other way is but a disguised aristocracy, or rather an oligarchy, a system where a few command and the majority obey.

OO. Just a moment. Even a child knows that you cannot pick anyone at random and put him in government, with all the complexities and problems of modern society. Government requires competent governors.

JM. Now I am confused. You told me that democracy means government by the people, but then you say that democracy is government only by competent people. Don’t you think you are contradicting yourself? According to Lenin a true democratic state is one where even a she-cook can govern.

OO. But these are old paradoxes and exaggerations. Democracy is founded on the individual vote and on carefully choosing the people’ representatives. A she-cook in power to satisfy a theoretical idea of democracy… It is absurd.

JM. Now then, if I follow you, democracy is the government by representatives chosen by the people and selected for their expertise, say, in finance, international law, business organization, communication science and foreign policy. And who knows, maybe even capable of understanding humanism. Are these the qualifications of an elected representative?

OO (sensing victory). Yes.

JM. I believe you, or rather I pretend to believe you and say, ‘Look around!’ How many of our congressmen and senators are experts in these disciplines and how many are just plain politicians with no specific training or expertise? I should remind you that not long ago a respected Oregon Representative, called to speak about business opportunities in the Pacific Rim, could not find Indonesia on the map….

OO. I think I will stop this conversation. How can we discuss democracy when you believe in some kind of superiority of intellect?

JM. You overestimate me. You assign to me ideas I do not hold, just as you give your vote a value it does not have. One vote counts for nothing and means nothing. Your ‘democracy’ is but the negation of man as an individual and of man directed by an independent mind. It is the glorification of Man-Electoral, of Mass-Man, of Pre-packaged Thought. It is government by numbers. It is the juggling of numbers to govern men and the use of men to manipulate numbers.

OO. Are you a Communist?

JM. No.

OO. A fascist?

JM. No, I attempt to reason with my own head rather than with that of someone else. Earlier on, you said that we should vote to maintain freedom and democracy. I should have kept quiet but I could not resist and I just said it is not true.

OO. But then, according to you, what kind of government comes out of an election?

JM. A kind of aristocratic government, founded on vague humors that creep within society and on the interests of a very few. And the elected are those who manage to represent the interests of those who feed both society’s humors and party candidates…

41. Did you say ‘aristocratic’?

JM. Yes, for lack of a better word. ‘Aristocracy’ means government by the best. And I hardly believe that the best minds and characters are in the seat of government. The ‘aristocracy’ of our time is that of the wily weasel, the sly fox and the smart ass. Their nurseries, schools and fitness centers are the GOP and the Democratic Party. No difference between the two, none whatsoever.

OO. Mmmmm… Maybe we should debate these ideas with a larger audience.

Jimmie Moglia