Democracy -- good or bad

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An officer in the Chicago police department is under investigation for shooting Robert A. Russ during what he intended to be a routine traffic stop. The officer tried to pull over Russ for driving "erratically."Russ refused to pull over. A five-mile pursuit followed culminating when Russ spun out of control forcing him to stop. When approached by the Police officer he refused to exit the car. The officer then smashed the car's tinted window and with the motivational prowess of a 9-mm handgun asked Russ again to exit the car. Russ, in an attempt to take the weapon away from the officer, was killed when the gun fired. Authorities saw that the officer's actions were appropriate because his life was in danger. However, with pressure from "three dozen chanting protesters . . . demanding a public investigation," Mayor Daley told the superintendent of the police, Terry Hilliard, to investigate. This is an example of Aristotle's feared democracy - selfish rule by the poor and needy.

Aristotle promoted instead, government by constitution -- rule by many heading to the needs of the state instead of striving for personal gain. The founding fathers of the United States heeded Aristotle's advice realizing the fallibility of the general population, thus starting our country as a Republic. A republic is similar to a mixture of both aristocracy and constitutional government. It uses the good qualities of each and attempts to shirk off the possibility of perversion mentioned by Aristotle. This situation is not only an example of the perverse democracy, but it also shows, by Aristotle's definition, tyranny. Tyranny is, "a kind of monarchy that has in view the interest of the monarch only." Obviously, Mayor Daley is not a monarch, but he is in the most powerful person at the city level. He perverted...