A Republic, Not a Democracy: What Does It Mean to Be a Citizen?
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The increasingly chaotic, desperate, and ill-conceived actions of the Trump administration—now entrenching itself deeper into a strategic and economic quagmire as a result of its unjust and poorly planned war of aggression against Iran—stand in stark contrast to the recent visit of Pope Leo XIV to Algeria on April 13, the first of his “bridge-building” trips to Africa.
During his address to Algerian government officials, civil society, and the diplomatic corps, the Pope contrasted the aspirations of Africa for a post-colonial world based on development and collaboration, with “people and organizations that dominate others (and) destroy the world, which the Most High has created in order that we might all live together.” He recommended to the people of Algeria, a nation which fought for its own independence 72 years ago, a potential bridge between North and South, and East and West, that they, “contribute to both envisioning and bringing about greater justice among peoples. By respecting the dignity of everyone and allowing yourselves to be moved by the pain of others, instead of multiplying misunderstandings and conflicts, you can surely become protagonists of a new chapter in history. Today, this is more urgent than ever in the face of continuous violations of international law and neocolonial tendencies….”
This practice of a statecraft based on mutual respect and diplomacy, is a practice which must be revived today in the United States and the West. In the trans-Atlantic world, leaders of governmental institutions have all but lost the ability to communicate, as the English poet Percy Shelley put it, “intense and impassioned conceptions respecting man and nature,” which could serve to define both domestic and international policy. As the world stands on the precipice of global economic collapse, and even thermonuclear conflict—driven by imperial policies pursued in Southwest Asia by the United States, Israel, and the British against Iran and neighboring regions such as Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories—the U.S. Senate has once again failed to exercise its constitutional authority. It neglected to pass a War Powers Resolution to halt the conflict, with the vote failing by 47 to 52.
Humanity, to be morally fit to survive, must have a developed sense of justice, and, by that means, discover how justice would be universally successfully applied in the state—both by, and for the individual—through the exercise of self-government in a republic. The concept of justice was defined and constructed by Plato in 380 BC, through his Socratic dialogues and the founding of his Academy, which carried forward the work of his teacher, Socrates. By engaging in dialogues with individuals across Athenian society—from the aristocracy to the poor—Socrates sought to build a sovereign citizenry capable of leading a republic.
In tonight’s Fireside Chat, Gerry Rose will explore Plato’s concept of justice—how it is attained, how it can be subverted, and how it may be restored through the cultivation of a sovereign citizenry today.