Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Rounding Out the Discussion

If you read the last two blogs you have a general understanding of a “Golden” and a “Silver Citizen.” A Golden translated to the King and the Silver to an Aristocrat. The King was a law onto himself and an Aristocrat was bound by a law, known as Chivalry, which was enforced only by peer pressure. The nobles did pretty much what they wanted and answered only to the King. In times of war they provided Men at Arms and the knights that led them into battle. In return they got a chunk of real estate which they managed as they saw fit. There were however two other classes down the food chain.

The third class was the bronze citizens. These were the freemen and included merchants, tradesmen, administrators, churchmen who created wealth. This class controlled the real economic and social engine that produced the GNP of the state. It was not uncommon for members of this class to acquire more wealth than the Aristocrats and even the King. To redistribute the King and Nobles levied fees, taxes and rents. As these burdens increased there was an understandable friction. The Bronze citizens were more numerous than the Silver and were bound by common law. This level of law is negative in nature and sets minimum thresholds of behavior. They were not titled by class but rather by profession.

The final class at the bottom was the “Serfs.” It was no longer politically correct to call them slaves but that is essentially what they were. They were bound to the land and relied on the nobility for their survival. Others were called “Indentured Servants,” which was the same thing really and were slaves to the Bronze class. In war these were the foot soldiers, led by the Bronze Men at Arms, who would be considered Non-Commissioned officers by today’s measure. So this is how Plato’s theory, set forth in the Republic, was translated into the practical social structure of life in the middle Ages.

Now I know that many of my readers are thinking, “My Goodness I am glad I didn’t live in the middle Ages." However, while the terms have changed the system is still with us. It is the shadow behind virtually every government that exists on this planet. The only real difference between one form and another is how the people are seen and treated in the distribution process. If the people have no say then those on the bottom of the social chain suffer while those above have it comparatively better.

Our Constitution begins with the words… “We the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union…” Thus people are at the center of our system of Democracy. The system proposed by Plato in his Republic was not a Democracy. Even in Greece Democracy was the exception rather than the rule. In Athens it was adopted but there were huge problems with making it work. In order for this to happen there was a need for an educated people, with the self-discipline and determination to make this cumbersome and inefficient form of government function. Some of the problems were it took longer to reach a decision, and a citizen was expected to look out for both their own welfare and that of the group. It was slow to respond to a crisis and everybody was conflicted deciding where the line was between personal quality of life and supporting the state. For all its warts however, the Athenians considered it much preferred to the other alternatives such as tyranny, and the variations of the basic themes it offered.

Think about it. A citizen in a Democracy had to be educated, and inclined to self-discipline. Was that pie in the sky or what? Many “Citizens” in our “Democracy” can’t even discipline themselves to a regimen of exercise and diet. The very idea of volunteering their time to public service when they could be taking it easy or making money to pay off their credit cards, seems almost absurd. What we have is a thin veneer of Democracy spread over the old model given us by Plato. If you look beneath the surface there is still the Gold, Silver, Bronze and indentured servants.