FROM ARISTOTLE

Observations on government

Bust of Aristotle, Roman copy after Lysippos (−390–−300), image by Jastrow courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. ¹

Philosopher Aristotle’s observations on the right system of government, from his fourth-century BC “Politics”:

1. THE SOCIAL CLASSES. “It is plain, then, that those states are best instituted wherein the middle classes are a larger and more formidable part than either the rich or the poor….Whenever the number of those in the middle state has been too small, those who were the more numerous, whether the rich or the poor, always overpowered them, and assumed to themselves the administration of public affairs….Whenever either the rich get the better of the poor, or the poor of the rich, neither of them will establish a free state.”

2. THE RULE OF LAW. “It is better that law should rule than any individual…. He who entrusts any man with the supreme power gives it to a wild beast, for such his appetites sometimes make him; passion influences those who are in power, even the very best of men; but law is reason without desire.”

3. MILITARISM. “Since the highest virtue is intelligence, the pre-eminent duty of the state is not to train the citizens to military excellence, but to educate them for the right use of peace.”

How do those quotations rhyme with 2026 life in the US?

THE SOCIAL CLASSES.

Since before 2016, POTUS 47 used demagoguery to gain support from discontented Americans at the lower end of the financial security spectrum. His first term ended with an extreme group of his supporters attacking the US Capitol— our Congress and nation barely survived a takeover. During his first term, Congress was somewhat willing to keep him in check and impeached him twice.

Since 2025, now with the robust support of world-class oligarchs and concurrence by the GOP, he has eroded our financial and environmental safeguards, benefitting wealthy business interests. The social safety net has been eroded for all except the top 1%. He is engaged in self-enrichment at the expense of the citizenry.

We have now witnessed, as Aristotle observed, the poor in action and the rich in action.

THE RULE OF LAW

The POTUS has broken the law, ignored it, challenged it with time-delaying court appeals and lawsuits to block its intended effects. The GOP-controlled Congress and the SCOTUS enable the POTUS, forfeiting their duty as Legislative and Judicial branches to provide checks and balances to the Executive branch. He uses the Department of Justice and the FBI to persecute his perceived political enemies.

Americans have entrusted the supreme power to someone who acts as the wild beast noted in Quote 2, who uses that power for his own personal benefit, self-enrichment, grandiose ego-building projects.

MILITARISM.

The POTUS unlawfully launched attacks on Venezuela, Iran, and others. The Department of Defense, which the fascists in power call the “Department of War” has GOP approval for a $1.5 trillion budget. The Department of Homeland Security, with a budget now bloated by billions of USD, is now his personal security force. It is militarized and weaponized against Americans, building concentration camps, oppressing refugees, immigrants, and those who defend the human rights of the weak and defenseless.

The GOP-controlled Congress and the SCOTUS have again failed to check the POTUS.

SUMMARY.

In this era of the Epstein scandal, what are citizens called to do?

Resist daily— I hear no cavalry bugle.

20260521

Reference of interest:

The Story of Civilization: The Life of Greece, by Will Durant. (My source for the quotes)

¹ This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.