CCCH9003 Modernity and Traditional Chinese Thought

Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur 3035571486

Democracy vs Elitism, which is better?

1. Introduction
Democracy is perceived as one of the core values of modernity. While famous
philosopher Plato argued elitism is the better way, philosopher kings should be the
rulers, not the people (Giulia, 2013). Confucianism is also a supporter of elitism (Teo,
2007). The values of both ideologies or political systems are not really compatible
with each other, so in this essay, after looking into the pros and cons of both
ideologies, will determine which one, democracy or elitism, brings the greater good to
human beings as a whole. In this essay, the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, is used to
illustrate what exactly is the good for human beings. From bottom level, physical
needs, security needs, social needs, ego needs, to the top level, self-actualization
(Neel, 2017). The two ideologies will be evaluated according to which levels of this
pyramid of needs can they satisfy.

1.1. Definition of democracy

The word “democracy” was originated from Greek, meaning “rule of the people”.
Former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln once defined democracy as,
“government of the people, by the people, for the people.” “For the people”,
meaning the government exists for the sake of people. “By the people”, meaning
the country is ruled by the people, or the representatives elected by the people. “
Of the people”, meaning the rulership lies within the people (Democracy
Building, 2004). Liberty, equality and pluralism are three of the most important
values in democracy (Li, 1997). To sum up, a democratic government is a
constitution that guarantees its citizens basic civil and political rights, such as
freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and regular fair and free elections
(Democracy Building, 2004).

1.2. Definition of elitism

Elitism is the belief that the country should be ruled by a relatively small group of
people, that possess the qualities of wise and high moral standards. Only the
virtues can have political participation, not all the people, since the commoners
are not expected to be capable of ruling themselves. As a result, the elites have
more privileges or power than the common people because of their higher social
status (Philosophy Terms, 2017). Meritocratic, fair, open, competitive
examinations can be a method for the people to enter the administration, instead
of elections, as it is practiced in the China for two thousand years (Bell, 2006).

2. Advantages of elitism over democracy

The following will show certain advantages of elitism over democracy and some
drawbacks and limitations of democracy.

2.1. Capability
Common people may not be capable of being the good ruler of the country.
Democracy was thought as a “ship of fools” by Plato, that it is like a ship being
controlled by a crew that had no idea how to sail a ship (James, 2017). Winston
Churchill once said, “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.” (Philosophy Terms, 2017). It is important
for a country to be ruled by elites, because the economical, political, social issues
are of high complexity. As a result, the decision makers should be intelligent and
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Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur 3035571486
knowledgeable enough to make a reasonable move. It is believed that the general
public will not have enough specific knowledge about these complex issues, so it
seems unwise to let the commoners to be the decision makers, as one single
wrong decision at this level can leads to serious consequences (Bell, 2006). Bell
mentioned ideally in elitism, political decisions makers not only should be
intelligent, but also be adaptable to quick changes, innovative, have knowledge of
different fields and display high moral standards. If all the citizens are rulers of
the country, they may not have the knowledge or brainpower to make the best
decisions for themselves or the country, in the end they may suffer because of the
poor decisions made. Undeniably, people suffer less freedom and equality
between individuals is sacrificed, however the basic needs of the public should be
secured. Therefore, it may be better for everyone if the sovereignty only lies in
the hands of the elites, not the people.

2.2. Foresight
People or even representatives elected by people in democratic countries may lack
the foresight to make wise political decisions. Commoners is often believed to be
short-sighted and unable to consider about long-term consequences. In order for
politicians to enter the civil service or gain the support of the people, they may
have to satisfy the immediate needs of the people rather than considering about
the long-term consequences, which often conflicts with the short-term needs (Bell,
2006). For example, rapid development of economy may contribute a lot to the
rise of living standards at the moment, but it may cause tremendous amount of
environment pollutions that cause sufferings in the end (Risse, 2012). Elitism
avoids this problem since the decision makers are not elected by the people, the
elites can and will be more likely to make wiser decisions that both satisfies short-
term needs as well as being considering for long-term consequences.

2.3. Problems of voting

In a democratic country, capable leaders may not be recognized by the public and
the “wrong people” may be elected as representatives. Voters may be attracted by
irrelevant factors rather than ability or moral standards, then maybe some poor
decision makers will be elected, which can possibly threaten the future of both the
people and the country. For example, voters in Japan are often believed to only
vote for the politicians that proposed to satisfy their short-term needs. While in
Taiwan and Korea, people give their votes according to the identities of the
candidates (Bell, 2006). However, in countries in support of elitism, this is not a
problem, because the decision makers are not elected by the people, they enter the
government by their results in competitive examinations, and the capable leaders
can find their way into the civil service, and the future of the country is more
assured.

2.4. Effects of political parties

In a democratic system, political leaders are related to some particular political
parties, so they may be pressurized to implement policies in favor of their parties,
instead of the common good. Meanwhile, elitism can avoid this issue, because the
“elites” are not bonded with any political parties and will unlikely to care for the
interest of one particular party, but for the common good.

2.5. Minorities
CCCH9003 Modernity and Traditional Chinese Thought
Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur 3035571486
Another problem with democracy is that the decisions was made based on the
votes of the majority, opinions of the minorities may often be ignored. Democracy
is not an effective way to protect the unpopular individuals, while elitism can
provide the solution (Bell, 2006). Rule of the elites can protect the interests of
everyone, not just the majority, and this may achieve the “real equality”, instead
of the democratic one, which often end up in the majority wins, the minority
getting ignored.

2.6. Problem of freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is provided by democracy, however sometimes people
misunderstood it as their opinion will be accepted no matter what. “Anti-
intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political
and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my
ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’ ” (Isaac as cited in Philosophy
Terms, 2017). When egalitarianism and freedom is widely promoted as
democratic values, people often believed their opinions will always be accepted
and policies will go the way as they wish even though they have not acquired any
knowledge about the issue. Which in turn, causing a lot of unreasonable
disagreements and arguments against the government or between the public
themselves, in fact it is believed in this essay the “split up of Hong Kong” is one
of the examples of this unwanted consequence (Master Insight, 2018).
Nonetheless, elitism has an intrinsic value of people can earn themselves power
with knowledge and intelligent. As a result, under elitism, people can understand
they have the chance to express their own opinions if they have sufficient
knowledge on the issues, the chance of having unreasonable arguments within
society can be minimized, which is good for the harmony of society.

3. Advantages of democracy over elitism

The following will show certain advantages of democracy over elitism and some
drawbacks and limitations of elitism.

3.1. Equality and freedom

The first and one of the greatest advantages of democracy over elitism is that
people enjoy equality and more freedom. Winston Churchill once said,
“democracy is the worst form of government except all the other forms that have
been tried from time to time.” (Philosophy Terms, 2017). Everyone enjoys
individual liberties, everyone enjoys self-direction, everyone can have public and
political participation. One can argue that this may leads to unwanted
consequences, but they cannot argue that enjoying all the liberties is a bad thing.
With elitism, only the “elites” can have decision making power, and no matter
how well the lives of the common people have become, they don’t have their own
choices. According to the Maslow’ hierarchy of needs, only the lower levels of
human needs can be satisfied, the physical, security and social level, but they are
very unlikely to achieve ego needs like self-esteem, or achieve self-actualization
(Neel, 2017).

3.2. Legitimacy of authority

What gives the rulers the legitimacy to have rulership over the people is always a
challenging question to answer. If elitism government select decision makers by
competitive examinations, one may argue practical work is way different from
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Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur 3035571486
paper work, what kind of examinations should it be to justify giving a person so
much power over the others? Who is going to organize the examination? Just
because some people have better results in an examination, they have the authority
over me? What if the best rulers are not good at taking examinations? Democracy
provides the solution, the political leaders are elected by the people, not by
examinations, so they are representatives of the people. Therefore, it not only
solves the problem of authority, but also provides a peaceful way for people to
enter the government (Bell, 2006; Philosophy Terms, 2017).

3.3. Powerful elites

Another problem with elitism is that the “elites” are granted with so much power,
elitism may transform into despotism. It is true that in ideal case, they would
make decisions for the good of the country, but in reality, no one can assure that.
In a democratic system, the government can be regulated by regular elections.
They will lose their authority if they lose the support from the people (Philosophy
Terms, 2017). However, in elitism, there is no regulations to the authority of the
rulers, one may say there can be regular examinations to regulate the members of
the regime, they can stay in power if they are qualified by the examination. But in
fact, the “elites” can change the examination anything to favor themselves, then
the system may become a totalitarian government, which is definitely not good
for the people (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018).

3.4. Stability
It is mentioned above, people are believed to be short-sighted and fail to make
wiser decisions like the “elites”, so with constant conflict of interests between
them, whether society can remain stable is questionable. If the elitism regime
often implements policies that consider more about the future consequences than
present needs, disagreement between the people and the government is almost a
certainty if the people cannot understand the “elites”, then there may be social
unrest or even revolutions, which will definitely not contribute to the prosperity of
a country.

3.5. Self-direction and self-actualization

Without individual autonomy and self-direction, one can hardly achieve self-
actualization, which is the highest level of human needs according to the
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Neel, 2017). Democracy seems to be the only
political ideology that allows high degree of self-rule of the people. One can
argue that people are incapable of ruling themselves properly, it may be true but
how can they learn what a wrong decision is if they are not allowed to make any
wrong decisions? It is believed that self-actualization is also a process of people
learning the self-worth of themselves (William, 2016), so elitism may sacrifice
the greatest need of human beings, as ranked in the Maslow’s pyramid, for the
“common good” of society.

4. Conclusion
It is believed in this essay, that both democracy and elitism have their advantages over
each other, and it is complicated to determine which is the better one. However, an
example about parenting can tell the answer. “Helicopter parents” often have too
much care about their children, and this may hinder the personal development of the
child (Amy, 2018). Similarly, elitism may help society to achieve “the greater good”,
CCCH9003 Modernity and Traditional Chinese Thought
Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur 3035571486
however the cost is the majority of the people will not understand what a wrong
decision is if they are not allowed to make one and experience the consequence. To
conclude, democracy may cause people to suffer because of themselves, but it is
believed in this essay what they can learn from self-direction is more precious than
just having all the basic physical needs being satisfied.

5. References

Amy, M. (2018). Do Helicopter Parents Help or Hurt Children? The pros and cons of
helicopter parenting. Retrieved from:
https://www.verywellfamily.com/helicopter-parents-do-they-help-or-hurt-kids-
1095041

Bell, D. (2006). Taking Elitism Seriously: Democracy with Confucian Characteristics.

Beyond Liberal Democracy (Ch.6). Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press.

Democracy Building. (2004). A Short Definition of Democracy. Retrieved from:

http://www.democracy-building.info/definition-democracy.html

Giulia, M. (2013). Plato’s Argument for Rule by Philosophy Kings. Retrieved from:
https://www.e-ir.info/2013/04/17/should-philosophers-rule/

James, B. (2017). “Ship of Fools”: Democracy and Religious Performance in

Melville’s The Confidence-Man. Retrieved from:
https://concept.journals.villanova.edu/information/readers

Li, C.Y. (1997). Confucian Value and Democratic Value. Journal of Value Inquiry,
31(7), 183-193.

Master Insight. (2015). 羅致光：緩和社會撕裂 要先處理兩大矛盾. Retrieved from:

https://www.master-insight.com/%E7%BE%85%E8%87%B4%E5%85%89%EF
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Neel, B. (2012). Our Hierarchy of Needs. True freedom is a luxury of the mind. Find
out why. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-
seek/201205/our-hierarchy-needs

Philosophy Terms. (2017). Democracy. Retrieved from:

https://philosophyterms.com/democracy/

Philosophy Terms. (2017). Elitism. Retrieved from:

https://philosophyterms.com/elitism/

Risse, M. (2012). Environmental Justice. Global Political Philosophy. (Ch. 5).

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
CCCH9003 Modernity and Traditional Chinese Thought
Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur 3035571486
Teo, S.H.K. (2007). Confucian elitism: rituals, elites, and governance. Retrieved
from: https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/theses/confucian-elitism(16cf7fd8-2619-
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2018). Totalitarianism Government.

Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/totalitarianism

William, B. (2016). Politics and Self-Actualization. The battle of this presidential

election can be replaced by self-actualization. Retrieved from:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-second-noble-truth/201611/
politics-and-self-actualization

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