Socrates, a Defender of Democracy

Socrates, a Defender of Democracy

Socrates lived through the golden age of Athens, the deterioration into a 25 year war with Sparta, the rise of an oligarchic regime, and the ultimate restoration of the Athenian democracy. At the age of 70 he was executed by the state for supposedly corrupting the youth and insulating the Hellenic pantheon of gods. It can be expected by a democracy to find offense to the thoughtfulness of questioning basic truths, as democracies function according to group dynamics, and the more individuals are questioning themselves, social structure, social norms, wide and cutting principles, the less likely they are to immediately get along with authority unless they patiently corporate, like Socrates always did. It defends democracy to question, as it is by questioning, individuals expose truth, and the Greek people followed two traditions of a democracy: paeidia and parresia, an upstanding, morally grounded citizenry, and bold, courageous speech that gets to the heart of the matter and burrows under, even while staring in the face of mendacious political institutions. Socrates was essentially accused of being a monotheist by the state, not submitting to the Hellenistic vision of a polytheistic pantheon.

by Ben Bussewitz D.D., M.D.

a poem

Her

At the right hand of his palm,

The sun hanging high,

By the window near the garden,

The chipmunk running by,

All alone with the can,

And a splash of her eye,

All away by the water,

And the sun of the smile,

In alone on the land,

While the stars simmer on,

All away for the miles,

With life simmering on,

While the ocean pulses and rages,

To the life drifting by,

To the son of the reaper,

In the window of her eye,

To the life without taker,

All for love glorious,

A beautiful sunrise and rest,

As the love infinitely takes her.

by Ryan Ventriloquist

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a poem

Bethlehem to Egypt

a traveling nomad on his way to Chicago,

the heart of a girl in the heart that he cargoes,

he is not even in the most profound of moods,

he is not even in the heart of a swarm of bees,

he is not even drizzling or fizzling,

he is on the way to a wagon of speed.

by Ryan Ventriloquist

a poem

The Girl in Red

She is a queen of all watery canons,

She is a time in its own dimension,

She is a cause without a beginning,

She is a majesty, the heart is forgiven,

She is a turnip, attached to the vine,

She’s waiting for harvest to come,

She’s on Texas time,

She’s out of this world in imagination,

She is like the thin air,

The smell of carbon fresh,

Right from up there.

by Ryan Ventriloquist