The Wages of Sin
When Plato wrote “The Republic,”
his lament for a lost Athenian democracy, he did not believe democracy
could be recovered. The classical world, unlike our own, did not see
time as linear. Time was cyclical. It inevitably brought decay and
eventually death, true for both individuals and societies. And in his
“Republic,” Plato proposed that those who attempted in the future to
create the ideal state carry out a series of draconian measures,
including banning drama and music, which diverted the citizen from
performing civic duties and instilled corruption, and removing children
from their parents to provide a proper indoctrination. Plato wanted to
slow the process of dissolution. He wanted to stymie change. But that
decay and death would come was certain, even in Plato’s ideal state.
Camden, one of the poorest U.S. cities, is among New Jersey
municipalities suffering a crisis of blight since manufacturing
disappeared. (Mel Evans / AP)
municipalities suffering a crisis of blight since manufacturing
disappeared. (Mel Evans / AP)
